Network security

Introduction

Communication networks are used to transfer valuable and confidential information for a variety
of purposes. As a consequence, they attract the attention of people who intend to steal or misuse
information, or to disrupt or destroy the systems storing or communicating it. In this unit you
will study some of the main issues involved in achieving a reasonable degree of resilience
against network attacks. Some attacks are planned and specifically targeted, whereas others may
be opportunistic, resulting from eavesdropping activities.
Threats to network security are continually changing as vulnerabilities in both established and
newly introduced systems are discovered, and solutions to counter those threats are needed.
Studying this unit should give you an insight into the more enduring principles of network
security rather than detailed accounts of current solutions.
The aims of this unit are to describe some factors that affect the security of networks and data
communications, and their implications for users; and to introduce some basic types of security
service and their components, and indicate how these are applied in networks.
This OpenLearn course provides a sample of level 3 study in Computing & IT

Learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:

identify some of the factors driving the need for network security

identify and classify particular examples of attacks

define the terms vulnerability, threat and attack

identify physical points of vulnerability in simple networks

compare and contrast symmetric and asymmetric encryption systems and their
vulnerability to attack, and explain the characteristics of hybrid systems.

1 Terminology and abbreviations

1.1 Terminology
Throughout this unit I shall use the terms vulnerability, threat and attack. It is worthwhile
clarifying these terms before proceeding:

A vulnerability is a component that leaves a system open to exploitation (e.g. a network

cable or a protocol weakness).

A threat indicates the potential for a violation of security.

The term attack is applied to an attempted violation.

When you have finished studying this unit you should be able to explain the meaning of all the
terms listed below:
active attack
application layer encryption
application level gateway
asymmetric key system
attack
authentication
availability
bastion host
block cipher
brute force attack
Caesar cipher
certification authority
ciphertext
circuit level gateway

collision-free
confidentiality
cryptanalysis
cryptography
cryptosystem
decryption
demilitarised zone
denial-of-service attacks
digital signature
encryption
end-to-end encryption
filtering rules
firewall
freshness
hash value
integrity
key
keyspace
keystream
link layer encryption
masquerade attack
message authentication code
message digest

message modification
message replay
network layer encryption
nonce
one-time pad
one-way hash function
passive attack
password
password cracker
plaintext
private key
protocol analyser
proxy server
public key
public key infrastructure
public key system
registration authority
screened sub-net
sequence number
session key
shared key system
sniffer
stream cipher

symmetric key system

threat
time stamp
traffic analysis
Trojan
virus
vulnerability
worm
These terms will be highlighted in bold throughout the unit.

1.2 Abbreviations
The table below shows the abbreviations that are used throughout this unit, and their meanings.
Table 1 Abbreviations
ADSL
DES
DMZ
DNS
DSS
FTP
IANA
ICMP
IDEA
IP
IPSec
ISDN
ISO
LAN

asymmetric digital
subscriber line
Data Encryption Standard
demilitarised zone
domain name system
Digital Signature Standard
file transfer protocol
Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority
internet control message
protocol
International Data
Encryption Algorithm
internet protocol
internet protocol security
integrated services digital
network
International Organization
for Standardization
local area network

PGP
PING
PSTN
RC2
RC4
RSA
S-HTTP
S/MIME
SET
SHA
SIM
SMTP
TCP
UDP

Pretty Good Privacy

packet internet groper
public switched telephone
network
Rivest cipher 2
Rivest cipher 4
Rivest, Shamir and
Adleman block cipher
secure hypertext transfer
protocol
secure/multipurpose internet
mail extensions
secure electronic transaction
secure hash algorithm
subscriber identity module
simple mail transfer
protocol
transmission control
protocol
user datagram protocol

MD5
MSP
NSA
OSI

message digest 5
message security protocol
National Security Agency
open systems
interconnection

VPN
XOR
3DES

virtual private network

exclusive-OR
Triple Data Encryption
Standard

2 Background to network security

2.1 Introduction
An effective security strategy will of necessity include highly technical features. However,
security must begin with more mundane considerations which are often disregarded: for
example, restricting physical access to buildings, rooms, computer workstations, and taking
account of the messy aspects of human behaviour, which may render any security measures
ineffective. I shall remind you of these issues at appropriate points in the unit.
The need for security in communication networks is not new. In the late nineteenth century an
American undertaker named Almon Strowger (Figure 1) discovered that he was losing business
to his rivals because telephone operators, responsible for the manual connection of call requests,
were unfairly diverting calls from the newly bereaved to his competitors. Strowger developed
switching systems that led to the introduction of the first automated telephone exchanges in
1897. This enabled users to make their own connections using rotary dialling to signal the
required destination.

Figure 1 Almon Strowger (Source: courtesy of http://www.privateline.com)

2.2 The importance of effective network security strategies

In more recent years, security needs have intensified. Data communications and e-commerce are
reshaping business practices and introducing new threats to corporate activity. National defence
is also vulnerable as national infrastructure systems, for example transport and energy
distribution, could be the target of terrorists or, in times of war, enemy nation states.
On a less dramatic note, reasons why organisations need to devise effective network security
strategies include the following:

Security breaches can be very expensive in terms of business disruption and the financial
losses that may result.

Increasing volumes of sensitive information are transferred across the internet or intranets
connected to it.

Networks that make use of internet links are becoming more popular because they are
cheaper than dedicated leased lines. This, however, involves different users sharing
internet links to transport their data.

Directors of business organisations are increasingly required to provide effective

information security.

For an organisation to achieve the level of security that is appropriate and at a cost that is
acceptable, it must carry out a detailed risk assessment to determine the nature and extent of
existing and potential threats. Countermeasures to the perceived threats must balance the degree
of security to be achieved with their acceptability to system users and the value of the data
systems to be protected.
Activity 1
Think of an organisation you know and the sort of information it may hold for business purposes.
What are the particular responsibilities involved in keeping that information confidential?
Answer

Any sizeable organisation has information that needs to be kept secure, even if it is limited to
details of the employees and the payroll. I first thought of the National Health Service and the
particular responsibility to ensure patients medical records are kept secure. Academic
institutions such as The Open University too must ensure that student-related information such as
personal details and academic progress is kept confidential and cannot be altered by unauthorised
people.
Box 1: Standards and legislation

There are many standards relating to how security systems should be implemented, particularly
in data communication networks, but it is impractical to identify them all here. A visit to the
British Standards Institution website (http://www.bsigroup.com/) is a suitable point of reference.
ISO/IEC 17799 (2000) Information Technology Code of Practice for Information Security
Management sets out the management responsibility for developing an appropriate security
policy and the regular auditing of systems. BS 77992 (2002) Information Security Management
Systems Specification with Guidance for Use gives a standard specification for building,
operating, maintaining and improving an information security management system, and offers
certification of organisations that conform. Directors of UK businesses should report their
security strategy in annual reports to shareholders and the stock market; lack of a strategy or one
that is ineffective is likely to reduce the business share value.
Organisations in the UK must conform to the Data Protection Act of 1998. This requires that
information about people, whether it is stored in computer memory or in paper systems, is
accurate and protected from misuse and also open to legitimate inspection.

2.3 Network security when using your computer

Before considering the more technical aspects of network security I shall recount what happens
when I switch my computer on each morning at The Open University. I hope you will compare
this with what happens when you use a computer, and relate it to the issues discussed in this unit.
After pressing the start button on my PC, certain elements of the operating system load before I
am asked to enter a password. This was set by the IT administrators before I took delivery of my
PC. The Microsoft Windows environment then starts to load and I am requested to enter another
password to enable me to access the Open University's network. Occasionally I am told that the
password will expire in a few days and that I shall need to replace it with another one. A further
password is then requested because I have chosen to restrict access to the files on my machine,
although this is optional. While I am waiting I see a message telling me that system policies are
being loaded. These policies in my workplace are mainly concerned with providing standard
configurations of services and software, but could be used to set appropriate access privileges
and specify how I might use the services. Sometimes the anti-virus software begins an automatic
update on my machine to counter new threats that have recently been identified.
I can now start my work on my computer, although if I decide to check my email account, or
access some information on the Open University intranet, or perhaps seek to purchase a textbook
from an online retailer, I may need to enter further user names, account details or passwords.
This sequence of events is likely to be fairly typical of the requirements of many work
environments and you will, no doubt, appreciate the profusion of password and account details
that can result.
In this short narrative I have omitted an essential, yet easily forgotten, dimension of security that
affects access to networks the swipe card on the departmental entrance door and the lock on the
door to my room. Although these may be considered mundane and unimportant, they are

essential aspects of network security and a common oversight when the focus is on more
sophisticated electronic security measures.
An important criterion, which is generally applicable, is that a system can be considered secure if
the cost of illicitly obtaining data from it is greater than the intrinsic value of the data. This
affects the level of security that should reasonably be adopted to protect, for instance, multimillion pound transfers between banks or a student's record at The Open University.
In this unit I shall introduce some of the fundamental concepts that underpin approaches to
achieving network security, rather than provide you with the knowledge to procure and
implement a secure network. The Communications-Electronics Security Group is the
government's national technical authority for information assurance. If you need to investigate
matters relating to procurement and implementation, you should refer to its website
(http://www.cesg.gov.uk), from which you can find an introduction to the Information Assurance
and Certification Service and also the Information Technology Security Evaluation and
Certification Scheme. The latter scheme enables you to identify products that have undergone
security evaluation.
In the next section I shall introduce the categories of attacks that can be launched against
networks, before discussing appropriate countermeasures.

3 Threats to communication networks

3.1 How have network security measures developed over the past fifty years?
To start this section it is useful to reflect on the different obstacles that an intruder, intending to
eavesdrop on a telephone conversation, might face today compared with fifty years ago, before
electronic processing as we now know it. I shall consider an attack first between a home
telephone and its local exchange (of the order of a mile or less), and then beyond the local
exchange.
Eavesdropping on a telephone conversation has never been technically difficult. In particular,
tapping the wires of the target telephone in the local circuit would have been straightforward
fifty years ago, provided that physical access could be gained to the wires. In many old films
eavesdropping was carried out by an intruder in the basement of an apartment block or in a
wiring cabinet in the street, using a basic set of equipment that included a pair of crocodile clips
making a connection to some simple listening equipment. Today, in principle, a similar approach
could still be successful over the last mile of the telephone distribution system. Much of the
technology is still analogue, and signals can be detected by either direct contact with the twistedpair wires or by sensing fields radiating from the transmissions. However, where ADSL
(asymmetric digital subscriber line) or ISDN (integrated services digital network) services are
provided, separating a telephone conversation from data traffic would need an ADSL modem or
ISDN telephone and the knowledge to connect them correctly. This information is commonly
available, so should not be a major obstacle in itself.

Beyond the local exchange, signals are combined (multiplexed) for carrying over transmission
links, so to eavesdrop on a particular telephone message it must be unpicked from other
multiplexed messages. In the 1950s the multiplexing of analogue voice messages relied on the
use of different frequency bands (frequency division multiplexing) within a link's available
bandwidth, but today time division multiplexing is widely employed to accommodate a mix of
digitised voice and data traffic. In digital networks, greater difficulty may be experienced in
identifying or selecting individual channels. However, agencies with an interest in selecting
potentially valuable information from a mass of traffic can identify key words that are spoken or
written in data streams. Digital technology makes it much easier to search for and access data in
a structured manner.
Another complication is the coding algorithms that are applied for a variety of purposes, but a
determined intruder should not find it difficult to reverse these processes, given that many
software tools are available from the internet. In fact, it is probably the wide availability of tools
that can assist intrusion that makes modern networks susceptible, despite their use of
increasingly sophisticated technology.
Activity 2
What fundamental security measures have been traditionally used in organisations such as banks
or government departments, apart from those involving computer networks, and are they relevant
to network security?
Answer

Banks have always needed secure areas such as vaults protected by security codes, locks and
keys, and have been concerned with the authorisation and identification of staff empowered to
carry out certain activities. The honesty of staff is an important issue and careful selection and
screening procedures are needed. At the appointment stage references are usually requested and
other checks made on potential employees, sometimes using positive vetting procedures for
sensitive appointments. In terms of day-to-day activities, a need-to-know policy might be
followed to ensure that information is not needlessly disseminated within the organisation, and
that sensitive paperwork such as drawings, reports and accounts is securely locked up to
minimise risk.
Customers, too, could present security concerns. Banks need to assess security threats arising
from customer interactions, and government departments involved in taxation and benefits will
have similar concerns. The principles behind these issues have not diminished in importance in
the electronic environment of today's business world, although many of the locks and other
countermeasures take a different form.

3.2 Important terminology and information for making the most of this section
Before we move on to consider specific issues of network security, I need to introduce some
important terms that I shall use when describing how data is stored, processed or transmitted to
other locations. These are:

Confidentiality, in terms of selecting who or what is allowed access to data and systems.
This is achieved through encryption and access control systems. Even knowledge of the
existence of data, rather than the information that it contains, may be of significant value
to an eavesdropper.

The integrity of data, where modification is allowed only by authorised persons or

organisations. The modifications could include any changes such as adding to, selectively
deleting from, or even changing the status of a set of data.

The freshness of data contained in messages. An attacker could capture part or all of a
message and re-use it at a later date, passing it off as a new message. Some method of
incorporating a freshness indicator (e.g. a time stamp) into messages minimises the risk
of this happening.

The authentication of the source of information, often in terms of the identity of a

person as well as the physical address of an access point to the network such as a
workstation.

The availability of network services, including security procedures, to authorised people

when they are needed.

In general, attacks on data networks can be classified as either passive or active as shown in
Figure 2.

View larger image

Figure 2 Forms of attack (Source: based on Stallings, 2001, p. 64)
This is a suitable point at which to listen to the audio track Digital dangers. This provides some
additional perspectives to supplement your study of this unit.
Show transcript
Download
Hacking Audio
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3.3 Passive attacks

A passive attack is characterised by the interception of messages without modification. There is
no change to the network data or systems. The message itself may be read or its occurrence may
simply be logged. Identifying the communicating parties and noting the duration and frequency
of messages can be of significant value in itself. From this knowledge certain deductions or
inferences may be drawn regarding the likely subject matter, the urgency or the implications of
messages being sent. This type of activity is termed traffic analysis. Because there may be no
evidence that an attack has taken place, prevention is a priority.
Traffic analysis, however, may be a legitimate management activity because of the need to
collect data showing usage of services, for instance. Some interception of traffic may also be
considered necessary by governments and law enforcement agencies interested in the
surveillance of criminal, terrorist and other activities. These agencies may have privileged
physical access to sites and computer systems.
Activity 3
Suppose that, in a passive attack, an eavesdropper determined the telephone numbers that you
called, but not the message content, and also determined the websites that you visited on a
particular day. Compare in relative terms the intelligence value of each approach. Hint: you will
find some help here on the audio track Digital dangers.
Answer

I suspect that an attacker could easily discover the identities of the parties you telephone, for
example by simply telephoning the numbers you called. However, information about what was
said in your calls may be more difficult to determine without an enquirer's interest becoming
conspicuous. An investigation into websites that you visited, in contrast, may enable an attacker
to build up a stronger picture of your interests and intentions based on the content of the pages,
without the need to break cover.

3.4 Active attacks

An active attack is one in which an unauthorised change of the system is attempted. This could
include, for example, the modification of transmitted or stored data, or the creation of new data
streams. Figure 2 (see Section 3.2) shows four sub-categories here: masquerade or fabrication,
message replay, message modification and denial of service or interruption of availability.
Masquerade attacks, as the name suggests, relate to an entity (usually a computer or a person)
taking on a false identity in order to acquire or modify information, and in effect achieve an
unwarranted privilege status. Masquerade attacks can also incorporate other categories.
Message replay involves the re-use of captured data at a later time than originally intended in
order to repeat some action of benefit to the attacker: for example, the capture and replay of an

instruction to transfer funds from a bank account into one under the control of an attacker. This
could be foiled by confirmation of the freshness of a message.
Message modification could involve modifying a packet header address for the purpose of
directing it to an unintended destination or modifying the user data.
Denial-of-service attacks prevent the normal use or management of communication services,
and may take the form of either a targeted attack on a particular service or a broad, incapacitating
attack. For example, a network may be flooded with messages that cause a degradation of service
or possibly a complete collapse if a server shuts down under abnormal loading. Another example
is rapid and repeated requests to a web server, which bar legitimate access to others. Denial-ofservice attacks are frequently reported for internet-connected services.
Because complete prevention of active attacks is unrealistic, a strategy of detection followed by
recovery is more appropriate.
Activity 4
What example of a replayed message could lead to a masquerade attack?
Answer

If an attacker identified and captured a data sequence that contained a password allowing access
to a restricted service, then it might be possible to assume the identity of the legitimate user by
replaying the password sequence.
In this unit I shall not deal with the detailed threats arising from computer viruses, but just give a
brief explanation of some terms. The word virus is used collectively to refer to Trojans and
worms, as well as more specifically to mean a particular type of worm.

A Trojan is a program that has hidden instructions enabling it to carry out a malicious act
such as the capture of passwords. These could then be used in other forms of attack.

A worm is a program that can replicate itself and create a level of demand for services
that cannot be satisfied.

The term virus is also used for a worm that replicates by attaching itself to other
programs.

SAQ 1
How might you classify a computer virus attack according to the categories in Figure 2 (see
Section 3.2)?
Answer

A virus attack is an active attack, but more details of the particular virus mechanism are needed
for further categorisation. From the information on computer viruses, Trojans can lead to
masquerade attacks in which captured passwords are put to use, and worms can result in loss of
the availability of services, so denial of service is appropriate here. However, if you research
further you should be able to find viruses that are implicated in all the forms of active attack
identified in Figure 2.
SAQ 2
An attack may also take the form of a hoax. A hoax may consist of instructions or advice to
delete an essential file under the pretence, for instance, of avoiding virus infection. How would
you categorise this type of attack?
Answer

Denial of service will result if the instructions are followed and an essential file is removed.
Threats to network security are not static. They evolve as developments in operating systems,
application software and communication protocols create new opportunities for attack.
During your study of this unit it would be a good idea to carry out a web search to find the most
common forms of network attack. A suitable phrase containing key words for searching could be:

most common network security vulnerabilities

Limit the search to reports within a year. Can you relate any of your findings to the general
categories discussed above? What areas of vulnerability predominate? When I searched in early
2003, the most commonly reported network attacks were attributable to weaknesses in software
systems (program bugs) and protocol vulnerabilities. Poor discipline in applying passwords
rigorously and failure to implement other security provision were also cited. Another particular
worry was the new opportunities for attack created by wireless access to fixed networks.

3.5 Potential network vulnerabilities

Whatever the form of attack, it is first necessary to gain some form of access to the target
network or network component. In this section I shall take a brief look at a hypothetical network
to see where an attacker may achieve this in the absence of appropriate defence measures.
Figure 3 shows the arrangement of a typical local area network (LAN), in which repeater hubs
provide interconnections between workstations for a group of users (a work group), with
different work groups being interconnected through backbone links and having access to the
public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a packet-switched network. Repeater hubs are
also used to refresh the transmitted signal to compensate for the attenuation caused by the
transmission medium. I shall use Figure 3 to explore the potential for security breaches in a basic
network.

View larger image

Figure 3 A typical LAN
Typically, the LAN will be Ethernet based, operating on the broadcast principle, whereby each
packet (or strictly frame) is presented to all workstations on the local segment, but is normally
accepted and read only by the intended receiving station. (Segment in this context refers to part
of a local area network.) A broadcast environment is advantageous to someone attempting to
carry out either a passive or an active attack locally. Switches that separate work groups on a
LAN incorporate a bridge function, and bridges learn where to send packets by noting the source
addresses of packets they receive and recording this information in a forwarding table. The
contents of the forwarding table then determine on which port on the switch packets will be sent.
An attacker could corrupt entries in forwarding tables by modifying the source address
information of incoming packets presented to a bridge. Future packets could then be forwarded
to inappropriate parts of the network as a result.
SAQ 3
How would you categorise this form of attack?
Answer

Referring to Figure 2 (see Section 3.2), the modification of the source address corresponds to a
message modification attack. This could then lead to a masquerade/fabrication attack if the
purpose was for the attacker to receive messages intended for another computer. Alternatively,
the misdirection of messages could result in a denial-of-service attack.
Routers also have forwarding tables that may be vulnerable to attack. However, they are
configured in a different way from switches and bridges, depending on the security policies

applied to the network. In some networks human network managers load forwarding tables that
may remain relatively unchanged over some time. In larger networks, routing algorithms may
update forwarding tables automatically to reflect current network conditions. The policy may be
to route packets along a least-cost path, where the criterion for least cost may be, for example,
path length, likely congestion levels or error rate. As routers share information they hold with
neighbouring routers, any breach of one router's tables could affect several other routers. Any
interference could compromise the delivery of packets to their intended destination and cause
abnormal loading in networks, leading to denial of service. Routing tables or policies can be
changed legitimately by, for example, network management systems, and this highlights the need
for the management systems themselves to be protected against manipulation by intruders.
Returning to Figure 3, some organisations need to provide dial-in facilities for employees located
away from the workplace. Dial-in access may present further opportunities for attack, and
measures to protect this vulnerability will need to be considered. A wireless access point is also
indicated, providing access for several wireless workstations to the wired LAN. Reports of
security breaches on wireless LANs are widespread at the time of writing (2003), giving rise to
the term drive-by hacking, although many instances have occurred quite simply because basic
security features have not been activated. As a result, all the attacks on the LAN that I have
described so far can be performed by someone who does not even have physical access to the
site, but could be on the street nearby, for example in a parked car.
Some places on a LAN are particularly vulnerable. For example, connections to all internal data
and voice communication services would be brought together in a wiring cabinet for patching
across the various cable runs and for connecting to one or more external networks. An intruder
would find this a convenient point for tapping into selected circuits or installing eavesdropping
equipment, so mechanical locks are essential here.

3.6 Tapping into transmission media

Venturing beyond the organisation's premises in Figure 3 (see Section 3.5), there are many
opportunities for interception as data passes through external links. These could be cable or lineof-sight links such as microwave or satellite. The relative ease or difficulty of achieving a
connection to external transmission links is worth considering at this point.
Satellite, microwave and wireless transmissions can provide opportunities for passive attack,
without much danger of an intruder being detected, because the environment at the point of
intrusion is virtually unaffected by the eavesdropping activity. Satellite transmissions to earth
generally have a wide geographic spread with considerable over-spill of the intended reception
area. Although microwave links use a fairly focused beam of radiated energy, with appropriate
technical know-how and some specialist equipment it is relatively straightforward physically to
access the radiated signals.
I have already mentioned vulnerabilities arising from wireless LANs. In general, detecting and
monitoring unencrypted wireless transmissions is easy. You may have noticed that when you
switch a mobile telephone handset on, an initialisation process starts, during which your handset
is authenticated and your location registered. The initial sequence of messages may be picked up

by other circuits such as a nearby fixed telephone handset or a public address system, and is
often heard as an audible signal. This indicates how easy it is to couple a wireless signal into
another circuit. Sensing a communication signal may be relatively straightforward, but
separating out a particular message exchange from a multiplex of many signals will be more
difficult, especially when, as in mobile technology, frequency hopping techniques are employed
to spread the spectrum of messages and so avoid some common transmission problems.
However, to a determined attacker with the requisite knowledge, access to equipment and
software tools, this is all possible.
Tapping into messages transmitted along cables without detection depends on the cable type and
connection method. It is relatively straightforward to eavesdrop on transmitted data by
positioning coupling sensors close to or in direct contact with metallic wires such as twisted
pairs. More care would be needed with coaxial cables owing to their construction. Physical
intrusion into physical media such as metallic wires may cause impedance changes, which in
principle can be detected by time domain reflectometry. This technique is used to locate faults in
communication media and is commonly applied to metallic cables or optical fibres for
maintenance purposes. In practice, however, the levels of disturbance may be too slight to be
measurable. The principle can also be applied to optical fibres.
Activity 5
Can you think of any difficulties in the interception of signals at a point along an optical fibre?
Answer

Optical fibres rely on a process of total internal reflection of the light that represents the data
stream. This means that no residual electrical signal is available under normal circumstances, but
coupling into a fibre can be achieved for legitimate purpose by bending the fibre so that the angle
of rays inside it no longer conforms to the conditions for total internal reflection. A portion of
the fibre protective cladding would need to be removed to allow access to the data stream. This
would be a delicate operation for an attacker to perform and without suitable equipment the
likely outcome would be a fractured fibre.
So far I have discussed the possibilities of gaining physical access to communication networks
and hence the data that is carried on them. However, many users are interconnected through the
internet or other internetworks, and these wider networks (particularly the internet) offer a broad
range of opportunities without the need for intruders to move away from their desks. Many
software tools have been developed for sound, legitimate purposes. For example, protocol
analysers (or sniffers) analyse network traffic and have valid use in network management
activities. Network discovery utilities based on the PING (packet internet groper) and
TRACEROUTE commands are widely included in many PC operating systems and allow IP
(internet protocol) addresses to be probed and routes through networks to be confirmed. The very
same tools, however, can be used equally effectively for attacks on networks. If much of the
traffic on the large public networks can be intercepted by determined attackers, how is network
security to be achieved? It is the role of encryption to hide or obfuscate the content of messages,
and this is the subject of the next section.

4 Principles of encryption
4.1 An introduction to encryption and cryptography
Section 3 has introduced you to the main threats to network security. Before I begin to examine
the countermeasures to these threats I want to introduce briefly one of the fundamental building
blocks of all network security. This is encryption a process that transforms information (the
plaintext) into a seemingly unintelligible form (the ciphertext) using a mathematical algorithm
and some secret information (the encryption key). The process of decryption undoes this
transformation using a mathematical algorithm, in conjunction with some secret value (the
decryption key) that reverses the effects of the encryption algorithm. An encryption algorithm
and all its possible keys, plaintexts and ciphertexts is known as a cryptosystem or cryptographic
system. Figure 4 illustrates the process.

Figure 4 Encryption and decryption

Cryptography is the general name given to the art and science of keeping messages secret. It is
not the purpose here to examine in detail any of the mathematical algorithms that are used in the
cryptographic process, but instead to provide a general overview of the process and its uses.
Modern encryption systems use mathematical algorithms that are well known and have been
exposed to public testing, relying for security on the keys used. For example, a well-known and
very simple algorithm is the Caesar cipher, which encrypts each letter of the alphabet by
shifting it forward three places. Thus A becomes D, B becomes E, C becomes F and so on. (A
cipher that uses an alphabetic shift for any number of places is also commonly referred to as a
Caesar cipher, although this isn't strictly correct since the Caesar cipher is technically one in
which each character is replaced by one three places to the right.) I could describe this
mathematically as p + 3 = c, where p is the plaintext and c the ciphertext. For a more general
equation I could write p + x = c where x could take any integer value up to 25. Selecting
different values for x would obviously produce different values for c, although the basic
algorithm of a forward shift is unchanged. Thus, in this example the value x is the key. (The
Caesar cipher is of course too simple to be used for practical security systems.)
There are two main requirements for cryptography:
1. It should be computationally infeasible to derive the plaintext from the ciphertext without
knowledge of the decryption key.
2. It should be computationally infeasible to derive the ciphertext from the plaintext without
knowledge of the encryption key.

Both these conditions should be satisfied even when the encryption and decryption algorithms
themselves are known.
The reason for the first condition is obvious, but probably not the second, so I shall briefly
explain. In Section 3, the need to confirm authenticity was introduced. This is often also a
requirement for information that is sent in the clear, that is, not encrypted. One method of
authentication is for the sender and recipient to share a secret key. The sender uses the key to
encrypt a copy of the message, or a portion of it, which is included with the data transfer and, on
receipt, the recipient uses the key to decrypt the encrypted data. If the result matches the
plaintext message, this provides a reasonable assurance that it was sent by the other key owner,
and thus a check on its authenticity. (You will learn more about authentication in Section 8.) Of
course, this assumes that the key has not been compromised in any way.
Modern encryption systems are derived from one of two basic systems: symmetric key
(sometimes called shared key) systems, and asymmetric key (often called public key) systems.

4.2 An overview of symmetric key systems

We can think of symmetric key systems as sharing a single secret key between the two
communicating entities this key is used for both encryption and decryption. (In practice, the
encryption and decryption keys are often different but it is relatively straightforward to calculate
one key from the other.) It is common to refer to these two entities as Alice and Bob because this
simplifies the descriptions of the transactions, but you should be aware that these entities are just
as likely to be software applications or hardware devices as individuals.
Symmetric key systems rely on using some secure method whereby Alice and Bob can first agree
on a secret key that is known only to them. When Alice wants to send a private message to some
other entity, say Charlie, another secret key must first be shared. If Bob then wishes to
communicate privately with Charlie himself, he and Charlie require a separate secret key to
share. Figure 5 is a graphical representation of the keys Alice, Bob and Charlie would each need
if they were to send private messages to each other. As you can see from this, for a group of three
separate entities to send each other private messages, three separate shared keys are required.

Figure 5 Keys needed by Alice, Bob and Charlie for privately communicating with each other
SAQ 4

Derive a formula for the number of shared keys needed in a system of n communicating entities.
Answer

Each entity in the network of n entities requires a separate key to use for communications with
every other entity in the network, so the number of keys required by each entity is:
n1
But each entity shares a key with another entity, so the number of shared keys for each entity is:
(n 1)/2
In a system of n communicating entities the number of shared keys required is:
n(n 1)

/2

SAQ 5
How many shared keys are required for a company of 50 employees who all need to
communicate securely with each other? How many shared keys would be needed if the company
doubles in size?
Answer

50 people would require (50 x 49)/2 = 1225 shared secret keys.

100 people would require (100 99)/2 = 4950 shared secret keys.

4.3 The components of a symmetric key system

I shall now explain the components of a symmetric key system in more detail.
A block cipher operates on groups of bits typically groups of 64. If the final block of the
plaintext message is shorter than 64 bits, it is padded with some regular pattern of 1s and 0s to
make a complete block. Block ciphers encrypt each block independently, so the plaintext does
not have to be processed in a sequential manner. This means that as well as allowing parallel
processing for faster throughput, a block cipher also enables specific portions of the message
(e.g. specific records in a database) to be extracted and manipulated. A block of plaintext will
always encrypt to the same block of ciphertext provided that the same algorithm and key are
used.
A stream cipher generally operates on one bit of plaintext at a time, although some stream
ciphers operate on bytes. A component called a keystream generator generates a sequence of bits,
usually known as a keystream. In the simplest form of stream cipher, a modulo-2 adder
(exclusive-OR or XOR gate) combines each bit in the plaintext with each bit in the keystream to

produce the ciphertext. At the receiving end, another modulo-2 adder combines the ciphertext
with the keystream to recover the plaintext. This is illustrated in Figure 6. The encryption of a
unit of plain text is dependent on its position in the data stream, so identical units of plaintext
will not always encrypt to identical units of ciphertext when using the same algorithm and key.

Figure 6 Encryption and decryption using a modulo-2 adder

Stream ciphers can be classified as either synchronous or self-synchronising. In a synchronous
stream cipher, depicted in Figure 7, the keystream output is a function of a key, and is generated
independently of the plaintext and the ciphertext. A single bit error in the ciphertext will result in
only a single bit error in the decrypted plaintext a useful property when the transmission error
rate is high.

Figure 7 Synchronous stream cipher (Source: based on Schneier, 1996, Figure 9.6)
In a self-synchronising cipher, depicted in Figure 8, the keystream is a function of the key and
several bits of the cipher output. Because the keystream outputs depend on the previous n bits of
the plaintext or the ciphertext, the encryption and decryption keystream generators are
automatically synchronised after n bits. However, a single bit error in the ciphertext results in an
error burst with a length dependent on the number of cipher output bits used to compute the
keystream.

Figure 8 Self-synchronising stream cipher (Source: based on Schneier, 1996, Figure 9.8)
A selection of some symmetric key systems used in popular software products is given in Table
2.
Table 2 Examples of commercial symmetric key systems
Algorithm

Description
A block cipher with a 56-bit key. Adopted in 1977 by the US National
Security Agency (NSA) as the US Federal standard, it has been one of
DES (Data Encryption
the most widely used encryption algorithms but, as computers have
Standard)
become more powerful, it is now considered to have become too
weak.
A variant of DES developed to increase its security. It has several
forms; each operates on a block three times using the DES algorithm,
Triple-DES (or 3DES) thus effectively increasing the key length. Some variants can use three
different keys, the same key three times, or use an encryption
decryptionencryption mode.
IDEA(International Data A block cipher with a 128-bit key published in 1990. It encrypts data
Encryption Algorithm) faster than DES and is considered to be a more secure algorithm.
A compact and simple block cipher with a variable-length key of up to
Blowfish
448 bits.
RC2 (Rivest cipher no. A block cipher with a variable-length key of up to 2048 bits. The
2)
details of the algorithm used have not been officially published.
RC4 (Rivest cipher no.
A stream cipher with a variable-length key of up to 2048 bits.
4)
Often the key length for RC2 and RC4 is limited to 40 bits because of the US export approval
process. A shorter key reduces the strength of an encryption algorithm.

4.4 Asymmetric key systems

Asymmetric or public key systems are based on encryption techniques whereby data that has
been encrypted by one key can be decrypted by a different, seemingly unrelated, key. One of the
keys is known as the public key and the other is known as the private key. The keys are, in fact,

related to each other mathematically but this relationship is complex, so that it is computationally
infeasible to calculate one key from the other. Thus, anyone possessing only the public key is
unable to derive the private key. They are able to encrypt messages that can be decrypted with
the private key, but are unable to decrypt any messages already encrypted with the public key.
I shall not explain the mathematical techniques used in asymmetric key systems, as you do not
need to understand the mathematics in order to appreciate the important features of such systems.
Each communicating entity will have its own key pair; the private key will be kept secret but the
public key will be made freely available. For example, Bob, the owner of a key pair, could send a
copy of his public key to everyone he knows, he could enter it into a public database, or he could
respond to individual requests from entities wishing to communicate by sending his public key to
them. But he would keep his private key secret. For Alice to send a private message to Bob, she
first encrypts it using Bob's easily accessible public key. On receipt, Bob decrypts the ciphertext
with his secret private key and recovers the original message. No one other than Bob can decrypt
the ciphertext because only Bob has the private key and it is computationally infeasible to derive
the private key from the public key. Thus, the message can be sent secretly from Alice to Bob
without the need for the prior exchange of a secret key.
Using asymmetric key systems with n communicating entities, the number of key pairs required
is n. Compare this with the number of shared keys required for symmetric key systems (see
SAQs 4 and 5) where the number of keys is related to the square of the number of
communicating entities. Asymmetric key systems are therefore more scalable.
Public key algorithms can allow either the public key or the private key to be used for encryption
with the remaining key used for decryption. This allows these particular public key algorithms to
be used for authentication, as you will see later.
Public key algorithms place higher demands on processing resources than symmetric key
algorithms and so tend to be slower. Public key encryption is therefore often used just to
exchange a temporary key for a symmetric encryption algorithm. This is discussed further in
Section 4.6.
As with symmetric key systems, there are many public key algorithms available for use, although
most of them are block ciphers. Two used in popular commercial software products are listed in
Table 3.
Table 3 Examples of commercial asymmetric key systems
Algorithm

Description
A block cipher first published in 1978 and used for both encryption and
RSA (named after its
authentication. Its security is based on the problem of factoring large
creatorsRivest,
integers, so any advances in the mathematical methods of achieving this
Shamir and Adleman)
will affect the algorithm's vulnerability.
DSS (Digital Signature Developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA). Can be used
Standard1)
only for digital signatures and not for encryption or key distribution.

Digital signatures are explained in Section 8.

SAQ 6
Construct a table to compare the features of symmetric and asymmetric key systems.
Answer

Symmetric key and asymmetric key systems are compared in Table 4.

Table 4

Symmetric key systems

The same key is used for encryption and
decryption.
Relies on the sender and the receiver sharing
a secret key.
The key must be kept secret.
It should be computationally infeasible to
derive the key or the plaintext given the
algorithm and a sample of ciphertext.
Faster and computationally less demanding
than public key encryption.

Asymmetric key systems

One key is used for encryption and a different but
mathematically related key is used for decryption.
Shared secret key exchange is not needed.
One key (the secret key) must be kept secret, but
the other key (the public key) is published.
It should be computationally infeasible to derive
the decryption key given the algorithm, the
encryption key and a sample of ciphertext.
Slower and computationally more demanding than
symmetric key encryption.

4.5 Vulnerability to attack

All the symmetric and public key algorithms listed in Table 2 and Table 3share the fundamental
property that their secrecy lies in the key and not in the algorithm. (This is generally known as
Kerchoff's principle after the Dutchman who first proposed it in the nineteenth century.) This
means that the security of any system using encryption should not be compromised by
knowledge of the algorithm used. In fact, the use of a well-known and well-tested algorithm is
preferred, since such methods have been subjected to intense scrutiny by practitioners in the
field. If practitioners with detailed knowledge of an algorithm have not found messages
encrypted with it vulnerable to attack and have been unable to break it, then it is safe to assume
that others, without that knowledge, will also be unable to do so. However, the strength of a
cryptographic algorithm is difficult if not impossible to prove, as it can only be shown that the
algorithm has resisted specific known attacks. (An attack in this context is an attempt to discover
the plaintext of an encrypted message without knowledge of the decryption key.) New and more
sophisticated mathematical tools may emerge that substantially weaken algorithms previously
considered to be immune from attack.
Cryptanalysis is the science of breaking a cipher without knowledge of the key (and often the
algorithm) used. Its goal is either to recover the plaintext of the message or to deduce the
decryption key so that other messages encrypted with the same key can be decrypted.

One of the more obvious attacks is to try every possible key (i.e. the finite set of possible keys,
known as the keyspace) until the result yields some intelligible data. This kind of attack is
known as a brute force attack. Clearly, the greater the keyspace, the greater the immunity to a
brute force attack.
SAQ 7
Assuming you could process 1012 key attempts per second, calculate how long it would take to
search the keyspace of a 56-bit key. Compare this with the time needed to search the keyspace of
a 128-bit key.
Answer

A keyspace of 56 bits provides 2567.21016 possible keys. At a rate of 1012 keys per second it
would take approximately 7.2104 seconds or about 20 hours to try every key. A keyspace of 128
bits provides 21283.41038 possible keys. This would take approximately 3.41026 seconds or
about 1019 years. (Note: the lifetime to date of the universe is thought to be of the order of 1010
years.)
In practice it is unlikely that an attacker would need to try every possible key before finding the
correct one. The correct key could be found to a 50 per cent probability by searching only half of
the keyspace. Even allowing for this, the time taken to break a 128-bit key is still impossibly
long.
From the answer to SAQ 7 you may conclude that all that is needed for true data security is to
apply an encryption system with an appropriate length key. Unfortunately, key length is only one
of the factors that determine the effectiveness of a cipher. Cryptanalysts have a variety of tools,
which they select according to the amount of information they have about a cryptosystem. In
each of the cases below, a knowledge of the encryption algorithm but not the key is assumed:

Ciphertext only. The attacker has only a sample of ciphertext. The speed and success of
such an attack increases as the size of the ciphertext sample increases, provided that each
portion of the sample has been encrypted with the same algorithm and key.

Known plaintext. The attacker has a sample of plaintext and a corresponding sample of
ciphertext. The purpose of this attack is to deduce the encryption key so that it can be
used to decrypt other portions of ciphertext encrypted with the same algorithm and key.

Chosen text. The attacker usually has a sample of chosen plaintext and a corresponding
sample of ciphertext. This attack is more effective than known plaintext attacks since the
attacker can select particular blocks of plaintext that can yield more information about the
key. The term may also refer to cases where the attacker has a stream of chosen ciphertext
and a corresponding stream of plaintext.

Activity 6

From the list above how would you classify a brute force attack?
Answer

To mount a brute force attack, the attacker would need a sample of ciphertext and knowledge of
the algorithm used, so this would be classified as a ciphertext-only attack.
A ciphertext-only attack is one of the most difficult to mount successfully (and therefore the
easiest to defend against) because the attacker possesses such limited information. In some cases
even the encryption algorithm is also unknown. However, the attacker may still be able to use
statistical analysis to reveal patterns in the ciphertext, which can be used to identify naturally
occurring language patterns in the corresponding plaintext. This method relies on exploiting the
relative frequencies of letters. In the English language, for example, E is the most frequently
occurring letter with a probability of about 0.12. This is followed by the letter T (probability
0.06) then A, O, I, N, S and R. Common letter sequences in natural language (e.g. TH, HE, IN,
ER and THE, ING, AND and HER) may also be detected in the corresponding ciphertext.
These letters and their ordering may differ slightly according to the type and length of the
sampled text. All authors have their own style and vocabulary and this can lead to statistical
differences, as can the subject matter and spelling, e.g. English or American.
The only truly secure encryption scheme is one known as a one-time pad, introduced in 1918 by
Gilbert Vernam, an AT&T engineer. Vernam's cipher used for its key a truly random and nonrepeating stream of bits, each bit being used only once in the encryption process. Each bit in the
plaintext message is XORed with each bit of the keystream to produce the ciphertext. After
encryption the key is destroyed. Because of the random properties of the keystream, the resulting
ciphertext bears no statistical relationship with the plaintext and so is truly unbreakable. The
disadvantage of such a scheme, however, is that it requires the key to be at least the same length
as the message and each key can be used only once (hence the name one-time pad). Since both
sender and recipient require a copy of the key and a fresh key is needed for each message, this
presents somewhat of a problem for key management. Despite these practical difficulties, use of
the one-time pad has proved effective for high-level government and military security
applications.

4.6 Hybrid systems

As you have seen from earlier sections, a major advantage of asymmetric key systems over
symmetric key systems is that no exchange of a secret key is required between communicating
entities. However, in practice public key cryptography is rarely used for encrypting messages for
the following reasons:

Security: it is vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks.

Speed: encrypting data with public key algorithms generally takes about 1000 times
longer than with symmetric key algorithms.

Instead, a combination of symmetric and asymmetric key systems is often used. This system is
based on the use of a session key a temporary key used only for a single transaction or for a
limited number of transactions before being discarded. The following sequence between Alice
and Bob demonstrates the use of a session key.
1. Alice chooses a secret symmetric key that will be used as a session key.
2. Alice uses the session key to encrypt her message to Bob.
3. Alice uses Bob's public key to encrypt the session key.
4. Alice sends the encrypted message and the encrypted session key to Bob.
5. On receipt, Bob decrypts the session key using his own private key.
6. Bob uses the session key to decrypt Alice's message.
Activity 7
Why might a session key be preferable to the use of a recipient's public key?
Answer

I can think of a couple of reasons:

1. The more often a key is used and the more ciphertext produced by that key, the more
likely it is to come under attack. A session key can simply be discarded after use.
2. Encryption and decryption can be performed much faster using symmetric keys than
asymmetric keys.

5 Implementing encryption in networks

5.1 Overview
Confidentiality between two communicating nodes is achieved by using an appropriate
encryption scheme: data is encrypted at the sending node and decrypted at the receiving node.
Encryption will also protect the traffic between the two nodes from eavesdropping to some
extent. However, for encryption to be used effectively in networks, it is necessary to define what
will be encrypted, where this takes place in the network, and the layers that are involved in a
reference model.
Activity 8
What are the implications of applying encryption to whole protocol data units including the
headers at any particular layer of a reference model?

Answer

The protocol data unit headers include addressing information; if this is obscured, it will prevent
the effective routing of protocol data units to their destination. In a packet-switched environment
each switch must be able to read the address information in the packet headers. Encrypting all
the data including the headers of each packet at the sending node would render the switches at
intermediate nodes unable to read the source or destination address without first decrypting the
data.
The implementation of encryption in packet-switched networks must ensure that essential
addressing information can be accessed by the relevant network devices such as switches,
bridges and routers. Encryption is broadly termed link layer encryption or end-to-end
encryption depending on whether it is applied and re-applied at each end of each link in a
communication path, or whether it is applied over the whole path between end systems. It is
useful to identify the various implementations of encryption with the appropriate OSI layer, as
indicated in Figure 9.

View larger image

Figure 9 Encryption in relation to the protocol layers (Source: based on King and Newson, 1999,
p. 104)
End-to-end encryption is implemented at or above layer 3, the network layer of the OSI reference
model, while link layer encryption is applied at the data link and physical layers. When
encryption is applied at the transport or network layers, end-to-end refers to hosts identified by
IP (internet protocol) addresses and, in the case of TCP (transmission control protocol)
connections, port numbers. In the context of application layer encryption, however, end-to-end is
more correctly interpreted as process-to-process. Figure 10 identifies the extent of encryption
(unshaded areas) applied at each layer.

Figure 10 Alternative strategies for encryption (Source: based on Stallings, 1995, p. 139)

5.2 Link layer encryption

Link layer encryption has been available for some time and can be applied by bulk encryptors,
which encrypt all the traffic on a given link. Packets are encrypted when they leave a node and
decrypted when they enter a node. As Figure 10(a) shows, data link layer headers are not
encrypted. Because network layer information, in the form of layer headers, is embedded in the
link data stream, link layer encryption is independent of network protocols. However, each link
will typically use a separate key to encrypt all traffic. This makes the encryption devices specific
to a given medium or interface type. In a large network, where many individual links may be
used in a connection, traffic will need to be repeatedly encrypted and decrypted. One
disadvantage is that while data is held at a node it will be in the clear (unencrypted) and
vulnerable. Another is the need for a large number of keys along any path comprising many
links. Hardware-based encryption devices are required to give high-speed performance and to
ensure acceptable delays at data link layer interfaces. The effectiveness of link layer encryption
depends on the relative security of nodes in the path, some of which may be within the internet.
The question of who can access nodes in the internet then becomes a significant concern.
When applied to terrestrial networks, link layer encryption creates problems of delay and
expense, but it is particularly useful in satellite links, because of their vulnerability to
eavesdropping. In this case the satellite service provider takes responsibility for providing
encryption between any two earth stations.

5.3 End-to-end encryption

I shall consider end-to-end encryption at the network layer and the application layer separately.
5.3.1 Network layer encryption

Network layer encryption is normally implemented between specific source and destination
nodes as identified, for example, by IP addresses. As Figure 10(b) indicates, the network layer
headers remain unencrypted.
SAQ 8

What threats that you have previously encountered in this unit are still present with network
layer encryption?
Answer

As information contained in IP packet headers is not concealed, eavesdroppers could perform

traffic analysis based on IP addresses, and information in the headers could also be modified for
malicious purposes.
Network layer encryption may be applied to sections of a network rather than end-to-end; in this
case the network layer packets are encapsulated within IP packets. A major advantage of network
layer encryption is that it need not normally be concerned with the details of the transmission
medium.
A feature of encryption up to and including the network layer is that it is generally transparent to
the user. This means that users may be unaware of security breaches, and a single breach could
have implications for many users. This is not the case for application layer encryption. As with
link layer encryption, delays associated with encryption and decryption processes need to be kept
to an acceptable level, but hardware-based devices capable of carrying out these processes have
become increasingly available.
An important set of standards that has been introduced to provide network layer encryption, as
well as other security services such as authentication, integrity and access control in IP networks,
is IPSec from the IP Security Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force. You should
refer to RFC 2401 if you need further details on these standards.
5.3.2 Application layer encryption
In application layer encryption, end-to-end security is provided at a user level by encryption
applications at client workstations and server hosts. Of necessity, encryption will be as close to
the source, and decryption as close to the destination, as is possible. As Figure 10(c) shows, in
application layer encryption only the data is encrypted.
Examples of application layer encryption are S/MIME (secure/multipurpose internet mail
extensions), S-HTTP (secure hypertext transfer protocol), PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) and MSP
(message security protocol). Another example is SET (secure electronic transactions), which is
used for bank card transactions over public networks. Host layer encryption is a term
sometimes used to refer to programs that perform encryption and decryption on behalf of the
applications that access them. An example is secure socket layer.

5.4 Link layer encryption and end-to-end encryption compared and combined

Activity 9
Comparing end-to-end encryption with link layer encryption, which do you think is better?
Answer

It would be tempting to believe that end-to-end encryption is the more secure method since the
user data is encrypted for the entire journey of the data packets. However, the addressing
information is transmitted in the clear and this allows, at the least, traffic analysis to take place.
Much useful information can be gleaned by learning where messages come from and go to, when
they occur, and for what duration and frequency, as described in Section 3.3.
In contrast, with a link layer encryption system the data is at risk in each node since that is where
the unencrypted data is processed. Furthermore, link layer encryption is expensive because each
node has to be equipped with the means to carry out encryption and decryption.
An effective way of securing a network is to combine end-to-end with link layer encryption. The
user data portion of a packet is encrypted at the host using an end-to-end encryption key. The
packet is then transported across the nodes using link layer encryption, allowing each node to
read the header information but not the user data. The user data is secure for the entire journey
and only the packet headers are in the clear during the time the packet is processed by any node.
SAQ 9
A network security manager in an organisation has overall responsibility for ensuring that
networks are operated in a secure manner. From the manager's perspective, what level of
encryption would be most suitable and why?
Answer

Link layer encryption may be viewed as disadvantageous because of the possible vulnerability of
nodes outside the organisation. Application layer encryption can be implemented directly and
individually by users of applications, but is not necessarily under the control of a network
manager. A network layer approach, however, allows implementation of organisational security
policies in terms of IP addressing for example, and is also transparent to users.
In considering the application of any encryption scheme, the cost in terms of network delay,
increased overheads and finance must be weighed against the need for protection. As always,
there is a need to balance the advantages of a more secure network against the disadvantages of
implementing security measures and the potential costs of data interception and network attack.

6 Integrity
6.1 Encryption and integrity

You should recall from Section 3.2 that integrity relates to assurance that there has been no
unauthorised modification of a message and that the version received is the same as the version
sent.
Activity 10
Pause here for a while and consider whether encryption can be used as an effective assurance of
the integrity of a message.
Answer

Encryption does provide some assurance about the integrity of a message. After all, if we are
confident that the message has been immune from eavesdropping then, with the use of an
appropriate encryption scheme, we might also be reasonably confident that it has not been
altered in any way. You should recall, though, that in the discussion about block ciphers, I said
that they allowed specific portions of a message to be extracted and manipulated. If an attacker
knew which portions of the message to target, it would be possible to extract one portion and
substitute another. Imagine, for example, a bank that uses a block cipher to encrypt information
about certain transactions. One block may contain details of the account to be debited, another
the account to be credited, and another the amount to be transferred. It might not be too difficult
to substitute any of these blocks with data that had been extracted and recorded from some
earlier transaction.
There are other reasons why encryption alone does not provide a completely workable solution.
As you have already seen, the encryption process carries overheads in terms of resources and for
some applications it is preferable to send data in the clear. Also some network management
protocols separate the confidentiality and integrity functions, so encryption is not always
appropriate.

6.2 Other ways of providing assurance of integrity

Some other method of providing assurance of the integrity of a message is therefore needed
some kind of concise identity of the original message that can be checked against the received
message to reveal any possible discrepancies between the two. This is the purpose of a message
digest. It consists of a small, fixed-length block of data, also known as a hash value, which is a
function of the original message. (The term hash value can be used in other contexts.) The hash
value is dependent on all the original data (in other words, it will change even if only one bit of
the data changes) and is calculated by applying a mathematical function, known as a hash
function, which converts a variable-length string to a fixed-length string. A simple example is a
function that XORs together each byte of an input string to produce a single output byte.
A common use of a hash value is the storage of passwords on a computer system. If the
passwords are stored in the clear, anyone gaining unlawful access to the computer files could
discover and use them. This can be avoided if a hash of the password is stored instead. When a
user enters a password at log-in the hash value is recalculated and compared with the stored
value. The security of this method relies on the hash function being computationally irreversible.

In other words, it is easy to compute a hash value for a given input string, but extremely difficult
to deduce the input string from the hash value. Hash functions with this characteristic are known
as one-way hash functions.
For a hash value to give an effective assurance about the integrity of data, it should also be
computationally infeasible to generate another message that hashes to the same value. Hash
functions that provide this characteristic are said to be collision-free. The example of the XOR
function given earlier is not collision-free, since it would be simple to generate messages that
would produce an identical hash.
The following very simple method gives an insight into how a one-way hash could be derived.
(This example is not a practical method of producing hash values but does serve to demonstrate
their function.)
1. Concatenate the message by removing all the spaces.
2. Arrange the message in blocks of five characters.
3. Pad the final block if it contains less than five characters. (For example, if the final block
has only two characters it could be padded by adding AAA.)
4. Assign each block a numerical code from one of 265 possible values according to the
arrangement of letters. (See the example in the box below.)
5. Derive a value that is the modulo-265 sum of all the codes.
At the receiving end the hash value is recalculated using the same algorithm and is compared
with the appended hash value received with the message. Any alterations in the original message
should be revealed by a different hash value.
Box 3: A method of block coding
This is a worked example of a method of block coding the text VALUE
1. Code each letter according to its position in the alphabet (A=0, B=1, etc.), giving the
number sequence 21, 0, 11, 20, 4.
2. Multiply each coded number by a power of 26 depending on its position in the sequence,
giving: 21 264, 0 263, 11 262, 20 261, 4 260
3. Add together the resulting numbers: 6 596 496 + 0 + 7436 + 520 + 4 = 9 604 456
In practice, of course, message digest algorithms in common use are very much more complex
than the method described above. Two are briefly described in Table 5.
Table 5 Examples of common message digest algorithms

Algorithm
MD5
SHA (secure
hash
algorithm)

Description
Takes any arbitrary length input string and produces a fixed 128-bit value. This
is done by a method of blocking and padding and then performing four rounds of
processing based on a combination of logical functions. Considered to be
reasonably secure although potential weaknesses have been reported.
Similar to MD5 but produces a 160-bit hash value so is more resistant to brute
force attacks1.

A brute force attack on a hash value can be either an attempt to find another message that hashes
to the same value or an attempt to find two messages that hash to the same value.
A message authentication code is similar to a one-way hash function and has the same
properties, but the algorithm uses the additional ingredient of a secret key, and therefore
possession of the key to perform the check is necessary.

7 Freshness
7.1 Introduction
A message replay attack was introduced briefly in Section 3.4. In this attack a message, or a
portion of a message, is recorded and replayed at some later date. For example, an instruction to
a bank to transfer a sum of money from account A to account B could be recorded and replayed
some time later to fool the bank into making a second payment to account B. The incorporation
of a freshness indicator in the message is a means of thwarting attacks of this kind. In this section
I introduce three methods for indicating freshness: time stamps, sequence numbers and nonces.

7.2 Time stamps

A digital time stamp is analogous to a conventional postmark on an envelope: it provides some
check of when a message was sent. Returning to the example of Alice and Bob, Alice could add
the time and date to her communication to Bob. If she encrypts this with her own private key, or
with a key that is known only to Alice and Bob, then Bob may feel reassured that Alice's
message is not an old one that has been recorded and replayed.
Activity 11
Look back to Section 3.4, which introduced some types of active attack. If the encrypted
message and the encrypted time stamp were sent together, could Bob be truly sure of the
freshness of the message?
Answer

No. The exchange could be subject to a message replay attack. An eavesdropper could separate
the encrypted message from the encrypted time stamp, and substitute a different message in place

of the original one. (This could be a previously recorded encrypted message sent from Alice to
Bob.)
To prevent this kind of message replay attack, the message and the time stamp need to be bound
together in some way. One method of doing this is to encrypt them together. Only those in
possession of the decryption key can then separate the two elements.

7.3 Sequence numbers

Sequence numbers are an alternative way of indicating freshness. If Alice is sending a stream of
messages to Bob she can bind each one to a sequential serial number, and encryption will prevent
an eavesdropper from altering any sequence number. If Bob is suspicious he can check that the
numbers in Alice's messages are incremented sequentially. It would be a straightforward matter
for him to spot a replayed message since the sequence order would be incorrect and its number
would duplicate that of an earlier message.
SAQ 10
In a connectionless packet-switched network, would sequence numbers provide effective
freshness indicators?
Answer

In a packet-switched network, messages between two points could take different routes and
might arrive out of sequence. It would be impossible for Bob to determine whether this was a
result of network delays or some malicious intent. However, the sequence numbers would still
provide a means of identifying duplicated messages.

7.4 Nonces
This third method of freshness indication uses an unpredictable value in a challengeresponse
sequence. The sequence of events is illustrated in Figure 11. Bob wants to communicate with
Alice but she needs reassurance that his message is not an old one that is simply being replayed.
She generates some random number, which she encrypts and sends to Bob. He then binds the
decrypted version of the random number to his message to Alice. On receipt she checks that the
returned number is indeed the one she recently issued and sent to Bob. This number, which is
used only once by Alice, is called a nonce (derived from number used once). The term nonce
is also often used in a wider sense to indicate any freshness indicator.

Figure 11 Using a nonce as a freshness indicator

8 Authentication
8.1 Overview of authentication methods
Authentication is needed to provide some assurance about the source of a message: did it
originate from the location it appears to have originated from? One of the simplest authentication
methods is the use of a shared secret such as a password. Assume that Alice and Bob share a
password. Alice may challenge Bob to provide the shared password and if he does so correctly
and Alice is confident that the password has not been compromised in any way, then she may be
reassured that she is indeed communicating with Bob. (The use of passwords is examined in
more detail in Section 9.2.)
Using the following steps, public key encryption can be used to provide an alternative challenge
response protocol between communicating entities who do not share a secret key:
1. Alice challenges Bob by sending him some random number.
2. Bob encrypts the random number using his own private key and sends the result to Alice.
3. Alice decrypts the message using Bob's public key. If the result matches her original
random value and if she has confidence that the public key does indeed belong to Bob,
then she may be assured that it is Bob who has sent the message to her.
In effect, when a message is encrypted with a private key, the key acts like the signature of the
owner. As long as the key has not been compromised in any way it will act as an assurance of the
authenticity of the message. However, Bob would be ill-advised to sign a document unless he
was very sure about its contents. What if the value sent by Alice was not, after all, some random
number but instead was an encrypted message giving instructions to Bob's bank to transfer funds
into Alice's account? A better way for Bob to provide authentication when sending messages to
Alice would be for him to create a digest of his message (message digests were discussed in

Section 6.2) encrypted with his private key and to append this to the message he sends to Alice.
On receipt Alice could create a new digest using an identical algorithm and compare this with the
decrypted digest sent by Bob. If the two match and she is confident that Bob's private key has not
been compromised in any way she may feel reasonably confident that the message did originate
with Bob. Such an encrypted message digest is known as a digital signature.

8.2 Certification authorities and digital certificates

There are snags to this procedure, however: for example, Charlie could generate a key pair for
himself and publish the public key using Bob's name. Some additional assurance is required that
irrevocably binds together the true identity of a person with a public key. This assurance can be
provided by a trusted third party, known as a certification authority, which is able to vouch for
Bob. Certification authorities can be independent organisations, system administrators, or
companies (such as Verisign) that specialise in validating the identity of an entity and issue a
digital certificate that binds the identity with a public key. The certification authority knows only
the public key of the entity and not the private key, which should of course be kept secret at all
times. The entity may not be a person it could also, for example, be a computer, a website, or a
network resource such as a router. Once the digital certificate has been issued, the entity can
append it to messages it sends in order to provide assurance about its identity.
Activity 12
Can you think of a problem that might arise with this arrangement?
Answer

An entity, say Charlie, could create his own digital certificate, which he claims has been issued
by a certification authority and which allows him to masquerade as Bob. Alternatively, he could
modify Bob's authentic certificate by substituting his own public key in place of his.
So a digital certificate itself needs some form of authentication to provide assurance that it is
valid.
Activity 13
How could a certification authority provide assurance about the validity of a digital certificate?
Answer

The certification authority could include its own identity and digital signature in the digital
certificate.
Typically, a digital certificate includes the information illustrated in Figure 12. It may also
include the level of trust that the certification authority is prepared to recommend. The emerging
standard for digital certificates is ITU-T X.509.

Figure 12 Format of a typical digital certificate

A user will need to obtain the certification authority's public key in order to validate its signature.
In turn, the binding of the certification authority's identity to a public key will itself need to be
the subject of validity assurances, and thus the system of authentication depends on an extended
structure and often relies on a chain of certificates.
Certification authorities form part of what is known as a public key infrastructure a
combination of services and encryption techniques that together are used to protect the security
of data over networks. At the time of writing, the definition of a public key infrastructure is
rather loose, but it is generally accepted that it will include:

a registration authority, which checks and verifies the credentials of a user before a
digital certificate can be issued

a certification authority that issues and verifies digital certificates

directory services for the publishing of public keys and certificates

certificate management and key management services.

9 Access control
9.1 Introduction
In this section I shall discuss two major approaches used to restrict access to networks
passwords and firewalls.

9.2 Passwords
I have introduced encryption keys in previous sections. A password can also be thought of as a
type of key in as much as it enables the keyholder to gain access to a particular resource. In
Section 2.3, I described the process of starting up my computer at The Open University. I
referred to the need to enter several sets of user identities and passwords to access various
services or software using my computer. Given the frequent use of passwords, it is reasonable to
consider what constitutes an effective password.

A major issue here is human behaviour. It is tempting, for instance, to make a record of
passwords that are used but not always remembered, or to make all one's passwords identical, or
to make them short or highly memorable in some personal way by linking them to personal
information, which is unlikely to be highly secure. Alternatively, names, places or normal words
may be used as passwords. There are security concerns with all these strategies. For example,
electronic dictionaries could be used to probe passwords that are based on known words in all
languages. Where passwords are restricted to a small number of characters, brute force methods
may quickly find the one correct combination out of many that may be possible.
An effective password, technically speaking, is one that can resist both dictionary and brute force
attacks. (For the purposes of network security a dictionary is a compilation of combinations of
characters that find use in any field of activity. It is not restricted to words commonly used for
general human communication.) A dictionary attack seeks to identify any predictable structure
within the string of characters included in the password: for example, a name, a word, or a
sequence of numbers, such as in a date format. A brute force attack relies on the power of
computers to cycle through combinations of characters on a trial-and-error basis in the absence
of predictable structure, until a successful conclusion is reached. If a password contains any
partial structure then the processing needed to discover it is reduced.
SAQ 11
Based on the above, how would you specify how a password should be constructed?
Answer

To avoid a dictionary attack, it is wise to ensure that strings of characters do not produce a
recognisable dictionary word. Ensuring that each password is made up of a minimum number of
characters reduces the likelihood of a successful attack over a given time period. Including
special characters (non-alphanumeric), numbers and upper and lower case letters helps to
increase the range of combinations that would need to be tested, and also helps to remove any
recognisable structure.
The security of an encrypted password used to access a remote station over a network depends
on the form of encryption used and whether it is applied over the whole path from sender to
receiver. A variety of means can be used to collect or bypass password protection systems. For
instance, password crackers are programs specifically designed to capture password sequences,
and decrypt or disable them. I referred earlier to the use of protocol analysers, which may be
used to sniff traffic for password sequences. In addition, Trojans can be hidden in programs that
an attacker expects the legitimate user to run, and will contain a hidden routine to bypass the
user's system's password protection. Hence encryption does not prevent capture and there is a
danger that message replay can lead to successful access even when passwords cannot be
decrypted by an attacker.
Despite the problems associated with passwords, they remain a first line of defence to intruder
access. There are several examples of internet sites offering a consolidation service for an
individual's multiplicity of passwords. The idea is that a single encrypted password can be used
to release the collection of passwords a potential winner-takes-all situation.

Activity 14
What alternatives to passwords could be used to allow or bar the use of facilities by a person (not
necessarily restricted to data networks)?
Answer

Any characteristic that is unique to a person can in principle be used to allow or bar access. For
example, voice, face, hand, finger and iris recognition are candidates for authenticating an
individual seeking access to some facility and so can be considered a key, like passwords.
Magnetic strip cards too are often used to allow access to facilities such as workplaces, libraries
and photocopiers.
Activity 15
In the answer to the question above, what advantages do the examples referred to have over a
password?
Answer

With the exception of magnetic cards, the examples are normally inseparable from the individual
being authenticated. All the examples dispense with the need to remember or record a password.
In general, combining two components, such as something you know (a password) and
something you possess (e.g. a physical device or attribute, whether separable from the legitimate
user or not) gives a higher level of security than either component alone. This is a valuable
concept that is put to use in many practical security systems.
Activity 16
Think of examples where this principle is in common use.
Answer

I thought of my cash point card and my mobile telephone. Both require me to enter a number
sequence (what I know) in addition to possessing an artefact (the card in one case and the mobile
telephone containing the SIM card in the other). (SIM stands for subscriber identity module.)
This assumes that the user has enabled the SIM card key, although it seems that many choose not
to.

9.3 Firewalls an overview

Firewalls play an important role in restricting and controlling access to networks. A firewall is
normally implemented within a router or gateway, and will monitor incoming and outgoing
traffic at the boundary of the protected zone. It is a device that denies external hosts access to
selected insecure services within the protected zone (e.g. denial of dial-in services), while also
denying internal hosts access to insecure services outside the protected zone. Figure 13 shows a

firewall protecting the only access to network A. There may be further control within the
protected zone, for example to limit access from one internal LAN segment to another. A firewall
provides the means to implement some of an organisation's network security policies and may be
transparent to users of the network in terms of its presence and the level of inconvenience
caused. This depends on the type of firewall and the policies that are implemented.

Figure 13 Firewall protection at point of access

Activity 17
In the previous section I found it useful to regard a password as a type of key that would allow
legitimate users access to particular services. Would you consider a firewall to be another type of
key?
Answer

A firewall also allows or bars access to services, but its role is more selective in that users may
be allowed access to some services but barred from others. To that extent it may be helpful to
consider a firewall as performing a gatekeeping role, i.e. allowing access to some but not others.
I shall now look at three different types of firewall packet-filtering routers, application level
gateways, and circuit level gateways concluding with examples of firewall implementation.

9.4 Packet-filtering router

A packet-filtering router either blocks or passes packets presented to it according to a set of
filtering rules. Figure 14 shows this arrangement.

Figure 14 Packet-filtering router

Filtering rules are based on various features of the service or protocols involved, including:

the packet header information, e.g. IP source and destination addresses

the encapsulated protocol being used, e.g. TCP or UDP, ICMP or IP tunnel (see Box 4
below)

the transport layer source and destination ports

the ICMP message type

the incoming and outgoing interfaces for the packet.

UDP (user datagram protocol) is a transport layer protocol in the internet reference model. It is
used for traffic that does not need the services of a TCP connection. ICMP (internet control
message protocol) is used to communicate problems from routers and hosts in the network. It
supports, for example, the widely used PING command referred to in Section 3.6.
Box 4: IP tunnel
In IP tunnel an extra IP header is added to a packet to avoid revealing the originating source and
final destination IP addresses when a message is being sent across an intermediate network. This
idea of concealment of header details by tunnelling is employed in some important security
protocols that have been developed specifically for use in IP networks over the internet.
The choice of rules and the way in which they are implemented will allow a router to admit or
bar specific types of user traffic. Services that may be called up by users at their computers are
generally identified in terms of TCP or UDP port numbers. Figure 15 shows where TCP port
numbers are identified in the header and the box on TCP port numbers explains briefly the
concept of TCP ports.

Figure 15 TCP segment format

Box 5: TCP port numbers

TCP is a connection-oriented protocol and provides services by creating end points called
sockets at client and server machines. A socket uses the IP address of the host and a 16-bit port
number. (A port is sometimes referred to as a transport service access point.) Port numbers below
1024 are reserved for standard services and are referred to as well-known ports.
For example, Telnet is an application protocol associated with the TCP/IP family. It enables a
user at one computer to log in to another computer, issue commands to the operating system, and
run programs. A Telnet server will listen for remote connections on TCP port 23, while an email
service based on another application protocol, SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol), will listen
for incoming connections on TCP port 25.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has a list of well-known ports on its website.
From the description in the box, Telnet presents a significant security risk in terms of its ability
to exercise remote control of a workstation, server or other network device. However, Telnet can
be disallowed by including its TCP port number in the filtering rules. Given that a TCP port
number specifies a type of service and an IP address specifies a host address, you should be able
to see how combinations of the two can be used to restrict access to certain services to certain
hosts. Consider this further by attempting SAQ 12.
SAQ 12
How could a packet-filtering router:
1. restrict incoming traffic from a specified external network?
2. restrict access to a Telnet service to selected hosts behind the firewall?
3. combat an attempt by an outside source to masquerade as an internal host?
Answer

1. The router could disallow all packets from the specified network by referring to the
relevant IP addresses in the filtering rules.
2. In the filtering rules TCP port 23 could be disallowed for all hosts except those with
certain internal IP addresses.
3. An external attack could be based on knowledge of one of the target network's internal IP
addresses. However, a packet arriving at a network interface from an external circuit, but
having an internal source IP address, would be highly suspect. This could be reflected in
the packet-filtering rules by specifying that, for all interfaces from external circuits,
packets presenting source addresses that are internal network IP addresses would be
barred. This type of attack is termed IP address spoofing.

There are many types of attack that can be resisted using packet-filtering rules, but I shall
consider just one other as an example.
Figure 16 shows the structure of an IPv4 packet. The fragment offset field and the three flag bits
that precede it in the packet header allow an IP packet to be split into two or more fragments, if it
would otherwise exceed the maximum size set by the lower layer frame limit. However, this
feature could be misused in a number of ways. For example, a fragment could be forced to be so
small that the encapsulated packet header information would be split between fragments. Using
this tactic, an attacker could circumvent filtering rules that checked the header information of
encapsulated packets (e.g. the port identities of an encapsulated TCP segment as in Figure 15)
only in the first fragment that is received.

Figure 16 IP packet format

SAQ 13
Figure 15 defines the format of a TCP segment that is to be transported using IP. What would be
the minimum number of bytes that should be included in a fragmented IP packet to ensure that
the TCP port identification was included?
Answer

The IP header shown in Figure 16 includes 5 rows of 32 bits, assuming no options are present.
This equates to 20 bytes. The TCP destination port in Figure 15 is at the end of the first row of 32
bits, so another 4 bytes would ensure that both TCP ports were included. Therefore a minimum
of 24 bytes would be required.

A certain way to avoid a restricted service being accessed through the misuse of IP fragmentation
would be to reject any IP packet in which fragmentation was allowed. In practice, when
fragmentation is allowed, packet-filtering routers are usually set to reject IP fragments that are
less than 20 bytes greater than the IP header length.
Defining the rules under which packets are filtered demands a wide knowledge of internet
service types. Filtering rules need to be detailed and can become complex. When packets are
filtered using complex rules, the time for each packet to be processed by the router may increase
significantly and degrade system performance. When traffic must be restricted because of its
likely topic content, a packet-filtering approach that works on the basis of addresses (at the IP
and TCP levels) will not be able to meet requirements. A higher layer approach is needed and this
can be provided by the application level gateways that I shall describe next.
Despite the limitations of packet-filtering routers, they are widely deployed as they are
economical and can be implemented on standard routers, although additional software may need
to be installed. Users behind a packet-filtering firewall generally find the degree of restriction
involved acceptable and relatively unobtrusive.

9.5 Application level gateways

An application level gateway is implemented through a proxy server, which acts as an
intermediary between a client and a server. A client application from within the protected
network may request services originating from less secure networks such as the internet. After
the client's authentication has been confirmed, the requests for services are relayed onwards by
the proxy server, provided that they are allowed by the security policies in force. All subsequent
data exchanges in relation to the service request are handled by the proxy server.
An application level gateway relays requests for services at the application level. Policy
decisions to block or permit traffic are based on features identified in the application. For
instance, electronic mail will be associated with a variety of mail applications and an application
level gateway will act on criteria such as the message size, header fields or likely content, as
indicated by key words. Application level gateways typically provide proxy services for email,
Telnet and the World Wide Web.
Normally, each supported service is rigorously defined so that any undefined services are not
available to users. Each internal host allowed to use or provide the specified services must also
be defined. The term application level gateway is appropriate because, from the view of both
the clients within the protected network and the remote servers, the proxy server is seen as the
end user. The originating client and the remote server are hidden from each other.
Because an application level gateway is exposed to greater risk than the hosts it protects, the
proxy server normally takes the form of a specially secured host, referred to as a bastion host.
This is specifically designed to be more resistant to attacks than other hosts on the protected
network. For instance, a bastion host will run a secure version of the operating system, and may
allow only essential services to be installed with a restricted set of Telnet, DNS, FTP and SMTP
protocols. (DNS is the domain name system used on the internet to convert between the names of

devices and their IP addresses. FTP is file transfer protocol, an application protocol in the TCP/IP
family used, for example, to connect file servers.) In addition, a strong user authentication
process is employed along with audit facilities that record any attempts to intrude.
Code specifically designed to enhance regular checking for software bugs is used, and each
proxy service is designed to operate independently of others so that installation or removal of a
service can be undertaken without affecting other services. Viruses and worms may also be
screened.
Access to memory drives on the gateway is severely restricted to minimise threats from Trojans,
and user log-on is not allowed. Other threats that could be countered using this type of firewall
include those arising from importing macros (a software macro defines how a sequence of
operations can be condensed into a single command), or inbound packets that include executable
files (containing EXE or COM extensions), because of the possibility of introducing virus and
worm files into a network.
SAQ 14
What do you think could be the disadvantages of the application level gateway approach
compared with the packet-filtering approach?
Answer

An application level gateway is more demanding in terms of the necessary hardware and
software because of the burden of acting as a proxy. It is therefore likely to be more expensive
than packet filtering and also to incur longer processing delays. The enforcement of strict
policies may also be seen as restricting the options of users behind the firewall or of legitimate
ones outside. This type of firewall is less user-friendly and less transparent than a packet-filtering
firewall.

9.6 Circuit level gateways

A circuit level gateway operates at the transport layer of the OSI or internet reference models
and, as the name implies, implements circuit level filtering rather than packet level filtering. It
checks the validity of connections (i.e. circuits) at the transport layer (typically TCP connections)
against a table of allowed connections, before a session can be opened and data exchanged. The
rules defining a valid session prescribe, for example, the destination and source addresses and
ports, the time of day, the protocol being used, the user and the password. Once a session is
allowed, no further checks, for example at the level of individual packets, are performed.
A circuit level gateway acts as a proxy and has the same advantage as an application level
gateway in hiding the internal host from the serving host, but it incurs less processing than an
application level gateway.
Disadvantages of circuit level gateways include the absence of content filtering and the
requirement for software modifications relating to the transport function.

Circuit level gateways can be implemented within application level gateways or as stand-alone
systems. Implementation within an application level gateway allows screening to be asymmetric,
with a circuit level gateway in one direction and an application level gateway in the other.
SAQ 15
What advantages could arise from the asymmetry of the arrangement just described?
Answer

Firewall asymmetry could complement the different levels of risk relating to incoming and
outgoing traffic on the protected network. For example, user-friendly outgoing services could be
maintained to hosts behind the firewall by allowing circuit level functionality on outbound
traffic. This is appropriate where internal users requests are relatively trustworthy. By contrast,
inbound traffic could be subjected to the full scrutiny of application level content. Application
level examination of traffic involves a considerable processing overhead, but this would be
performed on incoming traffic only.

9.7 Examples of firewall implementation

In practice, firewalls are likely to be combinations of the types that I have described. For
example, a screened sub-network is commonly incorporated in a firewall scheme, as shown in
Figure 17. In this configuration an application level gateway implemented in a bastion host is
used in combination with two packet-filtering routers. The screened sub-network that is formed
is termed a demilitarised zone (DMZ). Placing servers and dial-in modems that are accessed by
external users in a DMZ is a way of separating these higher-risk components from the protected
internal network. Both external hosts and hosts within the internal network have access to
services provided on the DMZ, but traffic across it is blocked, preventing external users from
gaining direct access to the protected internal network.

View larger image

Figure 17 A combined firewall

To end this unit I shall very briefly indicate the way in which the Open University's network is
protected by its firewall.
Figure 18 represents the Open University's firewall arrangement, which needs to accommodate
the diverse networking needs of many people: for example, students, administrators, academics,
whether on site or working from remote sites such as conference venues, home or summer school
locations. The Open University has its headquarters at Walton Hall, Milton Keynes. Thirteen
regional centres and warehousing facilities each have LANs linked to the Walton Hall LAN to
create the Open University's wide area network.

Figure 18 The Open University firewall

Figure 18 shows the firewall protecting the Walton Hall / internet interface. The services that
students need to access are located within the DMZs. Students typically connect from their
homes using dial-up modems or ADSL links to access the internet through their internet service
providers, or they gain access from their workplaces. Web browsers are used to access services
such as the library, the main web server or student services, and electronic conferencing software
is used to access the servers that support the various course conferences.
In general, the firewall allows traffic to and from the DMZs but only traffic that can be identified
as being initiated by internal users on the Open University's LANs is permitted to cross the
firewall.
An additional feature of the Open University's arrangements allows authorised staff access to
appropriate areas of the Walton Hall LAN from external locations. To do this a virtual private
network (VPN) provides a logical bypass to the firewall, but access is secured by the use of onetime password generators in key fobs allocated to authorised users. These generate a frequent
supply of different passwords. Before any request for services using the VPN is granted, the user
requesting the service must respond with a valid password to a challenge from the VPN security
system.

Conclusion
10.1 Summary of Sections 15

There are many terms and abbreviations relating to this topic, and it is important to understand
them.
Looking at the background to network security can help to put its more technical aspects in
context.
Communication networks and the data they carry are vulnerable to a range of attacks. These can
be categorised as either passive or active attacks. In a passive attack, communication across a
network is observed but data within messages is not interfered with and messages may not even
be readable by the attacker. Traffic analysis is strongly associated with passive attacks, but may
also be a legitimate process for effective network management. An active attack typically
involves, for example, the modification of messages or their replay, or access to data and
networks through the assumption of a false identity, leading to either the misuse of data or
disruption of network services.
There are many opportunities for an attacker to gain physical access to networks and these need
to be resisted by both electronic and mechanical means. The sharing of networks through, for
example, the internet, provides opportunities for attack without the need for the attacker to be
physically close to the target networks. Wireless LAN technology presents further opportunities
for illicit network access.
Encryption is one of the fundamental building blocks of network security. Encryption transforms
plaintext into ciphertext, while decryption reverses the process. Encryption systems are based on
one of two basic methods. The first is a symmetric key system in which a single secret key is
shared between the two communicating entities. The second is an asymmetric system which uses
two mathematically related keys known as the public key and the private key. One key is used
for encryption and the other for decryption. Asymmetric key systems place higher demands on
processing resources than symmetric key systems and tend to be slower, but they are more
scalable and they do not rely on any prior secret key exchange. Hybrid systems are a
combination of symmetric and asymmetric key systems.
The implementation of encryption systems can be related to network protocol layers. Encryption
can be applied in link layer or end-to-end mode. In link layer encryption, the encryption and
decryption processes take place at each node along a path, but this can be expensive and slow.
End-to-end encryption involves applying encryption at higher layers in the protocol stack.
Network layer encryption and application layer encryption are examples. Security vulnerabilities
arise when protocol header information is exposed during message transmission or at nodes
where data is processed in unencrypted form.

10.2 Summary of Sections 69

Integrity relates to assurances that a message has not been tampered with in any unauthorised
way. A method of providing this assurance is to create a message digest, which gives a concise
identity of the original message, and append it to the message. The message digest of the
received message can then be calculated and checked for discrepancies against the digest sent. A
message digest takes the form of a small fixed-length block of data known as a hash value. A

hash value created by a one-way hash function is relatively easy to compute but difficult to
reverse.
Time stamps, sequence numbers and nonces are used to provide assurances about the freshness
of a message and help to prevent replay attacks.
Message authentication can be provided by including a digest of the message encrypted by the
sender's private key. The encrypted digest is known as a digital signature. The recipient decrypts
the digest using the sender's public key, computes a new digest of the received message and
compares the results. A certification authority is a trusted third party that is able to validate
public keys by issuing a digital certificate that binds the identity of the user with the key.
The most common ways of controlling access to communication networks are restricting
mechanical access and implementing password schemes and firewalls. Strong passwords can be
generated provided that they contain no recognisable structure. Such passwords should be
capable of withstanding, at least for a useful period of time, brute force and other computerassisted discovery techniques. However, such passwords are difficult to remember and human
factors become critical.
Firewalls are implemented to control traffic at the borders of protected networks. Three
approaches are based on packet-filtering rules (packet-filtering router), application type and
content (application level gateway) and validity of transport connection (circuit level gateway).
These approaches in varying combinations can provide firewalls appropriate to the level of
perceived threat, but sufficiently non-restricting to legitimate users of the protected networks.

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References
Halsall, F. (2001) Multimedia Communications, Addison Wesley.
ITU-T X.509 (2000) Information Technology Open Systems Interconnection The Directory:
Public-Key and Attribute Certificate Frameworks, International Telecommunication Union.
King, T. and Newson, D. (1999) Data Network Engineering, Kluwer.
Peterson, L. L. and Davie, B. S. (1996) Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Morgan
Kaufmann.
RFC 2401 (1998) Security Architecture for the Internet Protocol, Kent, S., Atkinson, R.
Schneier, B. (1996) Applied Cryptography, 2nd edn, Wiley.
Stallings, W (1999) Cryptography and Network Security, Prentice Hall.
Stallings, W (2001) SNMP, SNMPv2, SNMPv3, and RMON 1 and 2, 3rd edn, Addison Wesley.
Further reading
Anderson, R. (2001) Security Engineering: A Guide to Building Dependable Distributed
Systems, Wiley.
BS 7799-2 (2002) Information Security Management Systems Specification with Guidance for
Use, British Standards Institution.

Ellis, J. and Speed, T. (2001) The Internet Security Guidebook, Academic Press.
ISO/IEC 17799 (2000) Information Technology Code of Practice for Information Security
Management, International Organization for Standardization.
Tanenbaum, A. S. (1996) Computer Networks, 3rd edn, Prentice Hall.
Websites
British Standards Institution
Communications-Electronics Security Group, accessed 8 February 2007.
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, accessed 8 February 2007.

Acknowledgements
The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under a
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence.
Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material
within this unit:
Figure 1, accessed 8 February 2007. Figure 2 based on Stallings, W., SNMP, SNMPv2, SNMPv3,
and RMON 1 and 2, 3rd edition, May 2001, Addison Wesley; Figures 7 and 8 based on Schneier,
B. (1996) Applied Cryptography, 2nd edition, John Wiley & Sons; Figure 9 based on King, T.
and Newson, D. (1999) Data Network Engineering, Kluwer; Figure 10 based on Stallings, W
(1995) Cryptography and Network Security, Prentice Hall.
Every effort has been made to contact copyright owners. If any have been inadvertently
overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangements at the first
opportunity.
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