Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Though there are some “costs” with implementing this architecture,
these cost variables must be considered when proposing a SSL server im-
plementation to enhance your web server security. First of all, the design
needs to consider whether to only provide server authentication, or both
server and client authentication. The issue when expanding the authenti-
cation to include client authentication includes the administrative over-
head of managing the user keys, including a key revocation function. This
consideration, of course, has to assess the size of the user base, potential
for growth of your user base, and stability of your proposed user commu-
nity. All of these factors will impact the administrative burden of key man-
agement, especially if there is the potential for a highly unstable or
transient user community.
The positive considerations for implementing a SSL-secured server is
the added ability to secure other I/P services for remote or external SSL cli-
ents. SSL-registered clients now have the added ability to communicate se-
curely by utilizing Tenet and FTP (or other I/P services) after passing SSL
client authentication and receiving their session encryption key. In general
the SSL approach has very broad benefits, but these benefits come with the
potential added burden of higher administration costs, though if the value
of potential data loss is great, then it is easily offset by the administration
cost identified above.
Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (S-HTTP)
Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol, (S-HTTP) is emerging as another se-
curity tool and incorporates a flexible trust model for providing secure web
server and client HTTP communications. It is specifically designed for di-
rect integration into HTTP transactions, with its focus on flexibility for es-
tablishing secure communications in a HTTP environment while providing
transaction confidentiality, authenticity/integrity, and nonrepudiation. S-
HTTP incorporates a great deal of flexibility in its trust model by leaving de-
fined variable fields in the header definition which identifies the trust mod-
el or security algorithm to be used to enable a secure transaction. S-HTTP
can support symmetric or asymmetric keys, and even a Kerberos-based
trust model. The intention of the authors was to build a flexible protocol
that supports multiple trusted modes, key management mechanisms, and
cryptographic algorithms through clearly defined negotiation between
parties for specific transactions.
At a high level the transactions can begin in a untrusted mode (standard
HTTP communication), and “setup” of a trust model can be initiated so that
the client and the server can negotiate a trust model, such as a symmetric
key-based model on a previously agreed-upon symmetric key, to begin en-
crypted authentication and communication. The advantage of a S-HTTP-
enabled server is the high degree of flexibility in securely communicating
Search WWH ::
Custom Search