Online Security

1. Online Security Tuesday April 8, 2003 Maxence Crossley

2. Outline • How do we authenticate a service? • How do we encrypt a session? • How do we prevent a “replay attack”? • Another Problem: Spoofing

3. How do we authenticate a session? • Certification Authorities (CAs) • VeriSign • SecureNet • Digital Signature Trust • Distribute and store certificates

4. Public Key Cryptography • Server publishes public key with Certification Agency • Client encrypts message with public key • Server decrypts message with private key Source: http://waubonsie.com/security/www.html

5. Private Key Cryptography • Server and Client share a secret and private key • Client encrypts message with private key • Server decrypts message with private key Source: http://waubonsie.com/security/www.html

6. How do we encrypt a session? SSL • Client requests a secured file • Server sends its certificate • Client checks with CA that the signature is valid • Client generates a unique session key and sends it to server Source: http://waubonsie.com/security/www.html

7. How do we encrypt a session? Source: http://waubonsie.com/security/www.html

8. How do we encrypt a session? Source: http://waubonsie.com/security/www.html

9. How do we encrypt a session? Source: http://waubonsie.com/security/www.html

10. What is a “replay attack”? • When an attacker uses captured authentication tokens to gain access to a user’s account while bypassing normal authentication • Sniffing a URL that has a session ID in it • Attacker can obtain access to users account Source: http://www.owasp.org/asac/auth-session/replay.shtml

11. Countermeasures • “Generate hard to reverse-engineer Session IDs for authenticated web users (i.e. use strong crypto, MD5 hashes, etc.)” • “Build and require SSL (or other encryption) into the web application so that the authentication token can not be easily sniffed in transit between browser and server; Ensure that all cookies enable the "secure" field (see OWASP's explanation of cookies)” Source: http://www.owasp.org/asac/auth-session/replay.shtml

12. Countermeasure • “Provide a logout function that expires all cookies and other authentication tokens” • “Users can choose not to select the "Remember Me" option on web application accounts so that authentication tokens are not persistent after logout” Source: http://www.owasp.org/asac/auth-session/replay.shtml

13. Another Problem: Spoofing • Web users rely on visual clues when deciding to trust a site • Location bar information • SSL icons • SSL warnings • Certificate information • Response time • These cues can be forged Source: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~pkilab/demos/spoofing/

14. Spoofing Source: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~pkilab/demos/spoofing/

15. Spoofing Source: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~pkilab/demos/spoofing/

16. Countermeasures • Mozilla with SRD (synchronized random dynamic) Boundary • Trusted Reference Window in lower right corner • Untrusted Outer Window • Colors chosen at random Source: http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~pkilab/demos/countermeasures/