Standards that define the PKI

Standards that define the interface between the applications

and the underlying PKI

Standards that provide bits and pieces that glue everything

together and may address not only the PKI structure and the
methods and protocols for using it, but that may also provide an
overarching business process environment for PKI
implementation
Relationships between PKI standards and
protocols

Online banking
Business processes
and shopping

E-mail, VPNs, Applications

EDI

S/MIME, SSL, Standards/protocols

TLS, WTLS, that use PKI
IPSec, PPTP

ISAKMP, CMP, PKI

XKMS, X.509, implementation
PKIX, PKCS level
 Public Key Infrastructure X.509 (PKIX) and Public Key Cryptography Standards
(PKCS)

based on the X.509 certificate standard and establish complementary standards for
implementing PKI

PKIX
produced by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and defines standards for
interactions and operations for four component types: the user, the CA, the RA, and
the repository for certificates and certificate revocation lists

PKCS
composed of a set of 13 active standards, with 2 other standards that are no longer
active
The PKIX Model

End-entity
PKI management entities
PKI users
Operational and
management
transactions

Ce rtificate Publish certificates RA Management

and CRL
transactions
repository

CA
Publish certificates and CRLs

External CA
PKIX Standards:
❑ PKIX outlines certificate extensions and content not covered by X.509 v3 and the
format of version 2 CRL thus providing compatibility standards for sharing
certificates and CRL between CAs and end-entities in different PKIs.
❑ PKIX provides certificate management message formats and protocols, defining
the data structures, management messages, and management functions for PKIs.
❑ PKIX outlines certificate policies and certification practices statements, establishing
the relationship between policies and CPSs.
❑ PKIX specifies operational protocols, defining the protocols for certificate handling.
❑ PKIX includes time-stamping and data certification and validation services, which
are areas of interest to the PKIX working group, and which will probably grow in
use over time.
Importance of Knowing PKIX / PKCS
❑ To identify the standards already in place used to plan the
implementation of a private PKI in support secure services.
❑ To identify how the decision to use a particular PKI implementation
(domestic or commercial) may lead to incompatibilities with other
certificate- issuing entities.
❑ To know the business-to-business requirements that must be
considered when deciding how to implement a PKI within an
organization.
 specification for digital certificates published by the ITU-T
(International Telecommunications Union -
Telecommunication)

specifies information and attributes required for the

identification of a person or a computer system

portion of the X.500 standard that addresses the structure

of certificates used for authentication
Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security

provide the most common means of interacting with a PKI and

certificates

provide secure connections between the client and server for

exchanging information

provide server authentication and confidentiality of information transfers

SSL
protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting
private documents via the Internet
protocol developed by Netscape for transmitting private documents via the Internet
works by using a private key to encrypt data
that's transferred over the SSL connection

TLS
protocol intended to secure and authenticate communications across a public
networks by using data encryption
derived from SSL and uses the same certificates but does not require each service to
be given a new port number
composed of two parts: TLS Record Protocol
and TLS Handshake Protocol
Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol

provides a method for implementing a key exchange protocol and for negotiating a
security policy

defines procedures and packet formats to negotiate, establish, modify, and delete
security associates

intended to support security association at all

layers of the network stack
Certificate Management Protocol

defines the messages and operations required to provide certificate management

services within the PKIX model

provides a framework that works well with other

standards (PKCS #7 and PKCS #10)

provides for the following certificate operations:

❑ CA establishment, including creation of the initial CRL and export of the public key for the CA
❑ Certification of an end-entity
XML Key Management Specification

defines services to manage PKI operations within XML environment

intended to simplify integration of PKIs and management of certificates in

applications

three tiers of service based on the client requests and application requirements
❑ Tier 0
❑ Tier 1
❑ Tier 2

relies on the client or underlying communications mechanism to provide for the security
of the communications with the XKMS server
 Tier 0 XKMS retrieval
Request for key info

Server response
Client
Server

XKMS tier 1 locate service

Request Request

Response Response
Client
Managed PKI
(validation) XKMS Server
XKMS tier 2 validate service

Request Request

Response Response
Client Managed PKI
XKMS Server
(validation)
 Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

extension to the MIME standard that provides a way to send and

receive signed and encrypted MIME data

the v2 specifications outline a basic strategy to

provide security services for electronic mail
Pretty Good Privacy

used to encrypt and decrypt e-mail and files

provides the ability to digitally sign a message so the receiver can be

certain of the sender’s identity

uses a variation of the standard public key encryption process

Hypertext Transfer Protocol over SSL

Web protocol developed by Netscape Communications and built into its

browser that encrypts and decrypts user page requests as well as the
pages that are returned by the Web server

uses the standard port 443 for TCP/IP communications rather than the
standard port 80 used for HTTP

makes use of the 40-bit RC4 encryption algorithm in most cases

collection of IP security features designed to introduce security at the network or
packet- processing layer in network communication

designed to be used to provide secure virtual private network capability over the
Internet

provides a secure version of the Internet Protocol by introducing authentication and

encryption at the packet level

provides two types of security service to ensure authentication and confidentiality for
either the data alone (referred to as IPSec transport mode) or for both the data and
header (referred to as tunnel mode)
Certificate Enrollment Protocol

developed by VeriSign for Cisco Systems

designed to support certificate issuance, distribution, and revocation

using existing technologies

use existing technology where possible

supports access to certificates and CRLs using either LDAP or the CEP-
defined certificate query
Federal Information Processing Standards Publications

set of standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and

Technology for use by the US government

developed for use in areas such as security or system interoperability

when there is no recognized industry standard

three categories:
❑ Hardware and Software Standards/Guidelines
❑ Data standards/guidelines
❑ Computer security standards/guidelines
international standard (ISO 15408) for computer security

allow users to specify their security requirements, to allow developers to

specify the security attributes of their products, and to allow evaluators
to determine if products actually meet their claims

provides a listing of laboratories that apply the criteria in the testing of

security products

provides a listing of products by function that has performed at a

specific Evaluation Assurance Level
Wireless Transport Layer Security

based on the fixed network Transport Layer Security protocol

provide privacy, data integrity, and authentication for WAP applications

necessary due to the limited memory and processing capabilities of WAP-enabled

phones

WTLS can be implemented in one of three classes:

❑ Class 1 is called anonymously authentication but is not designed for practical use
❑ Class 2 is called server authentication and is the most common model
❑ Class 3 is server and client authentication where the client and server’s WTLS certificates are
authenticated
Wired Equivalent Privacy

part of the IEEE 802.11 standard and is used to protect wireless

communications from interception

relies on a secret key that is shared between a

mobile station and an access point
 security standard for creating and implementing security policies

based on Version 2 of the British Standard 7799 (BS7799)

published in May 1999

divided into ten sections, each containing more detailed

statements describing what is involved for that topic