NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY

(15EC835, 17EC835)

8th SEM E&C

JAYANTHDWIJESH H P M.tech (DECS)

Assistant Professor – Dept of E&CE

B.G.S INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (B.G.S.I.T)

B.G Nagara, Nagamangala Tq, Mandya District- 571448
NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY

MODULE-1

MODULE-1

Transport level security: Web Security Consideration, Security socket layer

(SSL), Transport layer security, HTTPS, Secure Shell (SSH).

TEXT BOOK:

1. William Stallings, “Cryptography and Network Security Principles and

Practice”, Pearson Education Inc., 6th Edition, 2014, ISBN: 978-93-325- 1877-
3.
2. Thomas J. Mowbray, “Cyber Security – Managing Systems, Conducting
Testing, and Investigating Intrusions”, Wiley.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

1. Cryptography and Network Security, Behrouz A. Forouzan, TMH, 2007.

2. Cryptography and Network Security, Atul Kahate, TMH, 2003.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 1

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

MODULE - 1

Web Security Consideration, Security socket layer (SSL), Transport layer

security, HTTPS, Secure Shell (SSH).

1. WEB SECURITY CONSIDERATION

The World Wide Web is fundamentally a client/server application running over

the Internet and TCP/IP intranets.
The web provides the following Web Security Threats which make web security a must:

 The Internet is two way. Even unimportant systems like electronic publishing
systems, voice response, or fax-back are vulnerable to attacks on the Web
servers over the Internet.
 The Web is increasingly serving as a platform for corporate and product
information and as the platform for business transactions. Reputations can be
damaged and money can be lost if the Web servers are subverted.
 Although Web browsers, web servers are very easy to use and manage and web
content is easy to develop, the underlying software is extraordinarily complex.
This complex software may hide many potential security flaws and hence is more
vulnerable to a variety of security attacks.
 A Web server can be exploited as a launching pad into the corporation’s or
agency’s entire computer complex. Once the Web server is subverted, an attacker
may be able to gain access to data and systems not part of the Web itself but
connected to the server at the local site.
 Casual and untrained users’ common clients for Web-based services. Such users
are not always aware of the security risks.

1.1 WEB SECURITY THREATS JUNE/JULY-2013[8M]

Table 1 provides a summary of the types of security threats faced when using the
Web. One way to group these threats is in terms of passive and active attacks. Passive
attacks include eavesdropping on network traffic between browser and server and
gaining access to information on a Web site that is supposed to be restricted.

Active attacks include impersonating another user, altering messages in transit

between client and server, and altering information on a Web site. Another way to

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 2

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

classify Web security threats is in terms of the location of the threat: Web server, Web
browser, and network traffic between browser and server.

Table 1 A Comparison of Threats on the Web

1.2 WEB TRAFFIC SECURITY APPROACHES

Figure 1 Relative Location of Security Facilities in the TCP/IP Protocol Stack

 Figure illustrates that one way to provide Web security is to use IP security
(IPsec) (Figure 1 (a)).
 The advantage of using IPsec is that it is transparent to end users and
applications and provides a general purpose solution.
 Furthermore, IPsec includes a filtering capability so that only selected traffic
need incur the overhead of IPsec processing.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 3

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 Another relatively general-purpose solution is to implement security just above

TCP (Figure 1 (B)).
 The foremost example of this approaches the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the
follow-on Internet standard known as Transport Layer Security (TLS).
 At this level, there are two implementation choices.
 For full generality, SSL (or TLS) could provide as part of the underlying protocol
suite and therefore be transparent to applications.
 Alternatively, SSL can embed in specific packages.
 For example, Netscape and Microsoft Explorer browsers come equipped with
SSL, and most Web servers have implemented the protocol.
 Application-specific security services embedded within the particular
application.
 The figure shows (Figure 1 (C)). Examples of this architecture.
 The advantage of this approach is that the service can tailor to the specific needs
of a given application

2. SECURE SOCKET LAYER

2.1 SSL ARCHITECTURE MAY/JUNE-2010 [10M], JUN/JULY-2011 [10M],
DEC-2011[4M], DEC-2012[10M], JUNE/JULY-2013[8M], DEC/JAN-2016[10M]

Figure 2 SSL Protocol Stack

 Secure Socket Layer is designed to make use of TCP to provide a reliable end-to-
end secure service.
 Moreover, Secure Socket Layer is not a single protocol but rather two layers of
protocols, as illustrated in Figure (2) below.
 The SSL Record Protocol provides basic security services to various higher layer
protocols.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 4

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 In particular, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), which provides the

transfer service for Web client/server interaction, can operate on top of SSL.
 Three higher-layer protocols are defined as part of SSL: the Handshake
Protocol, the Change Cipher Spec Protocol, and the Alert Protocol.

Two important SSL concepts are the SSL session and the SSL connection, which
are defined in the specification as follows. DEC-2012[4M]

 Connection: A connection is a transport that provides a suitable type of

service. For SSL, such connections are peer-to-peer relationships. The
connections are transient. Every connection associated with one session.

 Session: An SSL session is an association between a client and a server.

Sessions are created by the Handshake Protocol. Sessions define a set of
cryptographic security parameters which can be shared among multiple
connections. Sessions are used to avoid the expensive negotiation of new
security parameters for each connection.
 There a number of states associated with each session. Once a session
established, there is a current operating state for both read and write (i.e.,
receive and send)
 In addition, during the Handshake Protocol, pending read and writes states
created. Upon successful conclusion of the Handshake Protocol, the pending
states become the current states

2.2 A SESSION STATE IS DEFINED BY THE FOLLOWING

PARAMETERS MAY/JUNE-2010 [10M], JUN/JULY-2011[10M]

 Session identifier: An arbitrary byte sequence chosen by the server to identify

an active or resumable session state.
 Peer certificate: An X509.v3 certificate of the peer. This element of the state
may be null.
 Compression method: The algorithm used to compress data prior to
encryption.
 Cipher spec: Specifies the bulk data encryption algorithm (such as null, AES,
etc.) and a hash algorithm (such as MD5 or SHA-1) used for MAC calculation. It
also defines cryptographic attributes such as the hash size.
Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 5
NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 Master secret: 48-byte secret shared between the client and the server.
 Is resumable: A flag indicating whether the session can be used to initiate new
connections.

2.3 A CONNECTION STATE IS DEFINED BY THE FOLLOWING

PARAMETERS. MAY/JUNE-2010 [10M], JUN/JULY-2011[10M]

 Server and client random: Byte sequences that are chosen by the server and
client for each connection.
 Server write MAC secret: The secret key used in MAC operations on data sent
by the server.
 Client write MAC secret: The secret key used in MAC operations on data sent by
the client.
 Server write key: The secret encryption key for data encrypted by the server
and decrypted by the client.
 Client write key: The symmetric encryption key for data encrypted by the client
and decrypted by the server.
 Initialization vectors: When a block cipher in CBC mode is used, an
initialization vector (IV) is maintained for each key. This field is first initialized
by the SSL Handshake Protocol.
 Sequence numbers: Each party maintains separate sequence numbers for
transmitted and received messages for each connection. When a party sends or
receives a change cipher spec message, the appropriate sequence number is set
to zero. Sequence numbers may not exceed 264 - 1.

2.4 SSL RECORD PROTOCOL: SSL PROTOCOL JUN/JULY-2017[10M],

JUNE-2012[10M]

 The SSL Record Protocol provides two services for SSL

connections: Confidentiality and Message Integrity.
 Confidentiality: The Handshake Protocol defines a shared secret key that is
used for conventional encryption of SSL payloads.
 Message Integrity: The Handshake Protocol also defines a shared secret key
that is used to form a message authentication code (MAC).
 Moreover, the overall operation of Record Protocol is:

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 6

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 Fragmentation: Each upper-layer message fragmented into blocks of 214 bytes

(16384 bytes) or less.
 Compression: Compression is optionally applied. Compression must be lossless
and may not increase the content length by more than 1024 bytes.

Figure 3 SSL Record Protocol Operation

 Add message authentication code: MAC calculated over the compressed data by
the following expression.

Hash (MAC_write_secret  pad_2  hash (MAC_write_secret  pad_1  seq _ num  SSL

Compressed. type  SSL Compressed. length  SSL Compressed. fragment))
Where
|| = concatenation.
MAC_write_secret = shared secret key.
Hash = cryptographic hash algorithm.
pad_1 = the byte 0x36 (0011 0110) repeated 48 times (384 bits) for MD5
and 40 times (320 Bits) for SHA-1.
pad_2 = the byte 0x5C (0101 1100) repeated 48 Times for MD5 and 40
times for SHA-1.
Seq _ num = the sequence number for this message.
SSL Compressed .type = the higher-level protocol used to process this fragment.
Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 7
NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

SSL Compressed. Length = the length of the compressed fragment.

SSL Compressed. Fragment = the compressed fragment or plain text (if compression
=not used).
 Encryption: The compressed message plus the MAC encrypted using symmetric
encryption. Algorithms supported are AES, RC4-40, IDEA, RC2, DES, 3DES and
Fortezza.
 The final step of SSL Record Protocol processing is to prepare a header consisting of
the following fields:
 Content Type (8 bits): The higher-layer protocol used to process the fragment.
 Major Version (8 bits): Indicates major version of SSL in use. For SSLv3, the
value is 3.
 Minor Version (8 bits): Indicates minor version in use. For SSLv3, the value is 0.
 Compressed Length (16 bits): The length in bytes of the fragment.
 Figure 4 illustrates the SSL record format.

Figure 4 SSL Record Formats

2.5 CHANGE CIPHER SPEC PROTOCOL

The Change Cipher Spec Protocol is one of the three SSL-specific protocols that
use the SSL Record Protocol, and it is the simplest.This protocol consists of a single
message (Figure 5(a)) of a single byte with the value 1.

The purpose of this message to cause the pending state to be copied into the
current state, which updates the cipher suite to be used on this connection.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 8

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Figure 5 SSL Record Protocol Payload

2.6 ALERT PROTOCOL

 The Alert Protocol used to convey SSL-related alerts to the peer entity.
 Moreover, each message in this protocol consists of two bytes (Figure 5(b)).
 The first byte takes the value warning (1) or fatal (2) to convey the severity of
the message.
 If the level is fatal, SSL immediately terminates the connection.
 Other connections on the same session may continue, but no new connections
established.
 The second byte contains a code that indicates the specific alert.
 First, we list those alerts that are always fatal (definitions from the SSL
specification):
 Unexpected message: An inappropriate message was received.
 Bad _ record _ mac: An incorrect MAC was received.
 Decompression _ failure: The decompression function received improper
input (e.g., unable to decompress or decompress to greater than maximum
allowable length).
 Handshake _ failure: Sender was unable to negotiate an acceptable set of
security parameters given the options available.
 Illegal _ parameter: A field in a handshake message was out of range or
inconsistent with other fields.
 The remaining alerts are the following.

 Close _ notify: Notifies the recipient that the sender will not send any more
messages on this connection. Each party is required to send a close _ notify
alert before closing the write side of a connection.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 9

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 No_ certificate: May be sent in response to a certificate request if no

appropriate certificate is available.
 Bad _ certificate: A received certificate was corrupt (e.g., contained a
signature that did not verify).
 Unsupported _ certificate: The type of the received certificate is not
supported.
 Certificate _ revoked: A certificate has been revoked by its signer.
 Certificate _ expired: A certificate has expired.
 Certificate _ unknown: Some other unspecified issue arose in processing the
certificate, rendering it unacceptable.

2.7 Handshake Protocol DEC-2010 [12M], DEC-2011[8M], JAN-2015[10M]

Table 2 SSL Handshake Protocol Message Types

 This Handshake Protocol allows the server and client to authenticate each
other and to negotiate an encryption and MAC algorithm and cryptographic
keys.
 Moreover, The Handshake Protocol is used before any application data is
transmitted.
 The Handshake Protocol consists of a series of messages exchanged by client
And server. All of these have the format shown in (Figure 5(c)).
 A handshake message has the following format:
1. Type (1 byte): Indicates one of 10 messages of handshake protocol. Table
2 lists the defined message types

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 10

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

2. Length (3 bytes): The length of the message in bytes.

3. Content (bytes): The parameters associated with this message.

 (Figure 6) shows the initial exchange needed to establish a logical connection

between client and server. The exchange can be viewed as having four phases.

Phase 1. Establish Security Capabilities:

 This phase is used to initiate a logical connection and to establish the security
capabilities that will be associated with it.

 The exchange is initiated by the client, which sends a client _hello message with the
following parameters:
 Version: The highest SSL version understood by the client.
 Random: A client-generated random number which serves as the nonce.
 Session ID: A variable-length session identifier. A nonzero value indicates that
the client wishes to update the parameters of an existing session. A zero value
indicates that the client wishes to establish a new connection on a new session.
 Cipher Suite: This is a list that contains the cryptographic algorithms (key
exchange, encryption, and MAC) supported by the client, in decreasing order of
preference.
 Compression Method: This is a list of the compression methods the client
supports.
 After sending the client _ hello message, the client waits for the server _ hello
message, which contains the same parameters as the client _ hello message. The
parameters contain the values which client had sent to the server and the server
has chosen to use.

Phase 2: Server Authentication and Key Exchange:

This phase provides authentication of the server to the client. o The server sends
its certificate (one or more) if it needs to be authenticated.

 The server sends a server _ key _ exchange message which contains the list of
secret keys to be used for the subsequent data. The certificate _ request message is
sent next which includes two parameters: certificate _ type and certificate _
authorities.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 11

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 Moreover, the final message in phase 2, and one that always required is the server _
done message, which sent by the server to indicate the end of the server hello and
associated messages.
 After sending this message, the server will wait for a client response. This message
has no parameters.

Figure 6 Handshake Protocol Actions

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 12

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Phase 3. Client Authentication and Key Exchange:

This phase provides client authentication to the server.

 The client verifies the server certificates and checks whether the server _ hello
parameters are acceptable.
 Moreover, if all is satisfactory, the client sends a certificate message if the server
has requested a certificate. If no suitable certificate is available, the client sends a no
_ certificate alert.
 Next is the client _ key _ exchange message which has the same parameters as the
server _key _ exchange message.
 Similarly, the client may send a certificate _ verify message to provide explicit
verification of a client certificate.
 The client encrypts all the previous messages and master secret with its private key.

Phase 4. Finish

This phase completes the setting up of a secure connection.

 The client sends a change _ Cipher _ spec message and copies the
pending Cipher Spec into the current Cipher Spec.
 Moreover, the client then immediately sends the finished message under the
new algorithms, keys, and secrets.
 The content of the finished message is the concatenation of two hash values:
MD5 (master _secret || pad2 || MD5 (handshake _messages || Sender || master
_secret || pad1))
SHA (master _secret || pad2 || SHA (handshake _messages || Sender || master
_secret || pad1))
 The server sends its own change _ cipher _ spec message, transfers the pending
to the current Cipher Spec, and sends it finished
 At this point, the handshake is complete and the client and server may begin to
exchange application-layer data.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 13

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

3. TRANSPORT LAYER SECURITY (TLS)

 TLS is an IETF standardization initiative whose goal is to produce an Internet

standard version of SSL.
 Moreover, TLS is defined as a Proposed Internet Standard in RFC 5246. Is very
similar to SSLv3.
 We highlight the differences.

Version Number

 The one difference is in version values. For the current version of TLS, the major
version is 3 and the minor version is 3.

Message Authentication Code: Transport Layer Security

 There are two differences between the SSLv3 and TLS MAC schemes:
 The actual algorithm and the scope of the MAC calculation.
 TLS makes use of the HMAC algorithm defined in RFC 2104.
 HMAC is defined as

where
H = embedded hash function (for TLS, either MD5 or SHA-1)

M = message input to HMAC

K + = secret key padded with zeros on the left so that the result is equal to the block
length of the hash code (for MD5 and SHA-1, block length = 512 bits)

Ipad = 00110110 (36 in hexadecimal) repeated 64 times (512 bits)

opad = 01011100 (5C in hexadecimal) repeated 64 times (512 bits)

 SSLv3 uses the same algorithm, except that the padding bytes are concatenated with
the secret key rather than being XORed with the secret key padded to the block
length.
 Moreover, The level of security should be about the same in both cases.
 For TLS, the MAC calculation encompasses the fields indicated in the following
expression:

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 14

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

MAC(MAC_write_secret,seq_num || TLSCompressed.type ||

TLSCompressed.version || TLSCompressed.length ||

TLSCompressed.fragment)

 The MAC calculation covers all of the fields covered by the SSLv3 calculation, plus
the field version, which is the version of the protocol being employed.

3.1 PSEUDORANDOM FUNCTION:

 TLS makes use of a pseudorandom function referred to as PRF to expand secrets

into blocks of data for purposes of key generation or validation.
 Moreover, the objective is to make use of a relatively small shared secret value but
to generate longer blocks of data in a way that is secure from the kinds of attacks
made on hash functions and MACs.

Figure 7 TLS Function P _ hash (secret, seed)

 The PRF is based on the data expansion function (Figure 7) given as

P _ hash (secret, seed) = HMAC _ hash (secret, A(1) || seed) ||

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 15

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

HMAC _hash (secret, A (2) || seed) ||

HMAC _ hash (secret, A (3) || seed) ||…
Where A () is defined as
A (0) = seed
A (i) = HMAC _ hash (secret, A (i – 1) )
 PRF defined as
PRF (secret, label, seed) = P _ hash (S1, label || seed)

PRF takes as input a secret value, an identifying label, and a seed value and produces an
output of arbitrary length.

Alert Codes: Transport Layer Security

 TLS supports all of the alert codes defined in SSLv3 with the exception of no _
certificate.
 A number of additional codes defined in TLS; of these, the following are always fatal.
 Record _ overflow: A TLS record was received with a payload (cipher text)
whose length exceeds 214 + 2048 bytes, or the cipher text decrypted to a length
of greater than 214 + 1024 bytes.
 Unknown _ ca: A valid certificate chain or partial chain was received, but the
certificate was not accepted because the CA certificate could not be located or
could not be matched with a known, trusted CA.
 Access _ denied: A valid certificate was received, but when access control was
applied, the sender decided not to proceed with the negotiation.
 Decode _ error: A message could not be decoded, because either a field was out
of its specified range or the length of the message was incorrect.
 Protocol _version: The protocol version the client attempted to negotiate is
recognized but not supported.
 Insufficient _ security: Returned instead of handshake _ failure when a
negotiation has failed specifically because the server requires ciphers more
secure than those supported by the client.
 Unsupported _ extension: Sent by clients that receives an extended server hello
containing an extension not in the corresponding client hello.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 16

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 Internal _ error: An internal error unrelated to the peer or the correctness of

the protocol makes it impossible to continue.
 Decrypt _ error: A handshake cryptographic operation failed, including being
unable to verify a signature, decrypt a key exchange, or validate a finished
message.
 The remaining alerts include the following.
 User _ cancelled: This handshake is being cancelled for some reason unrelated
to a protocol failure.
 No _ renegotiation: Sent by a client in response to a hello request or by the
server in response to a client hello after initial handshaking. Either of these
messages would normally result in renegotiation, but this alert indicates that the
sender is not able to renegotiate. This message is always a warning.

Cipher Suites:

Moreover, there are several small differences between the cipher suites available
under SSLv3 and under TLS:

 Key Exchange: TLS supports all of the key exchange techniques of SSLv3 with the
exception of Fortezza.
 Symmetric Encryption Algorithms: TLS includes all of the symmetric encryption
algorithms found in SSLv3, with the exception of Fortezza.

Client Certificate Types

 TLS defines the following certificate types to be requested in a certificate_ request

message: rsa _sign, dss _sign, rsa _fixed _dh, and dss _fixed _dh.
 These are all defined in SSLv3. In addition, SSLv3 includes rsa _ ephemeral _dh, dss _
ephemeral _dh, and fortezza _kea.
 Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman involves signing the Diffie-Hellman parameters with
either RSA or DSS. For TLS, the rsa _ sign and dss _sign types are used for that
function; a separate signing type is not needed to sign Diffie-Hellman parameters.
 TLS does not include the Fortezza scheme.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 17

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Certificate _verify and Finished Messages

 In the TLS certificate _verify message, the MD5 and SHA-1 hashes are calculated only
over handshake _messages.
 Recall that for SSLv3, the hash calculation also included the master secret and pads.
These extra fields were felt to add no additional security.
 As with the finished message in SSLv3, the finished message in TLS is a hash based
on the shared master _secret, the previous handshake messages, and a label that
identifies client or server. The calculation is somewhat different. For TLS, we have
PRF (master secret, finished label, MD5 (handshake _ messages) ‖ SHA-1
(handshake _messages))
Where finished label is the string “client finished” for the client and “server finished”
for the server.

Cryptographic Computations

The pre _ master _secret for TLS is calculated in the same way as in SSLv3. As in
SSLv3, the master _secret in TLS is calculated as a hash function of the pre_ master
_secret and the two hello random numbers. The form of the TLS calculation is different
from that of SSLv3 and is defined as
Master _secret = PRF (pre _master _secret, "master secret", Client Hello .random ‖
Server Hello .random)

The algorithm is performed until 48 bytes of pseudorandom output are produced. The
calculation of the key block material (MAC secret keys, session encryption keys, and IVs)
is defined as

Key _block = PRF (master _secret, "key expansion", Security Parameters. Server _
random‖ Security Parameters. Client _random)

Until enough output has been generated. As with SSLv3, the key _block is a
function of the master _secret and the client and server random numbers, but for TLS,
the actual algorithm is different.

1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
111111111111

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 18

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Padding

In SSL, the padding added prior to encryption of user data is the minimum
amount required so that the total size of the data to be encrypted is a multiple of the
cipher’s block length. In TLS, the padding can be any amount that results in a total that
is a multiple of the cipher’s block length, up to a maximum of 255 bytes.
For example,
 if the plaintext (or compressed text if compression is used) plus MAC plus
padding.
 Length byte is 79 bytes long, then the padding length (in bytes) can be 1, 9,
17, and so on, up to 249.
 A variable padding length may be used to frustrate attacks based on an
analysis of the lengths of exchanged messages.

4. HTTPS

 HTTPS (HTTP over SSL) refers to the combination of HTTP and SSL to
implement secure communication between a Web browserand a Web server.
 The HTTPS capability is built into all modern Web browsers.
 Its use depends on the Web server supporting HTTPS communication.
For example, search engines do not support HTTPS.
 The principal difference seen by a user of a Web browser is that URL (uniform
resource locator) addresses begin with https:// rather than http://.
 A normal HTTP connection uses port 80.
 If HTTPS is specified, port 443 is used, which invokes SSL.
 When HTTPS is used, the following elements of the communication are
encrypted:
 URL of the requested document
 Contents of the document
 Contents of browser forms (filled in by browser user)
 Cookies sent from browser to server and from server to browser
 Contents of HTTP header
 HTTPS is documented in RFC 2818, HTTP over TLS. There is no fundamental
change in using HTTP over either SSL or TLS, and both implementations are
referred to as HTTPS.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 19

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

4.1 Connection Initiation

 For HTTPS, the agent acting as the HTTP client also acts as the TLS client.
 The client initiates a connection to the server on the appropriate port and then
sends the TLS Client Hello to begin the TLS handshake.
 When the TLS handshake has finished, the client may then initiate the first HTTP
request. All HTTP data is to be sent as TLS application data. Normal HTTP
behavior, including retained connections, should be followed.
 There are three levels of awareness of a connection in HTTPS.
 At the HTTP level, an HTTP client requests a connection to an HTTP server by
sending a connection request to the next lowest layer.
 Typically, the next lowest layer is TCP, but it also may be TLS/SSL.
 At the level of TLS, a session is established between a TLS client and a TLS
server. This session can support one or more connections at any time. As we
have seen, a TLS request to establish a connection begins with the
establishment of a TCP connection between the TCP entity on the client side
and the TCP entity on the server side.

4.2 Connection Closure

 An HTTP client or server can indicate the closing of a connection by including the
following line in an HTTP record: Connection: close. This indicates that the
connection will be closed after this record is delivered.
 The closure of an HTTPS connection requires that TLS close the connection With
the peer TLS entity on the remote side, which will involve closing the underlying
TCP connection.
 At the TLS level, the proper way to close a connection is for each side to use the
TLS alert protocol to send a close notify alert.
 TLS implementations must initiate an exchange of closure alerts before closing a
connection.
 A TLS implementation may, after sending a closure alert, close the connection
without waiting for the peer to send its closure alert, generating an “incomplete
close”.
 HTTP clients also must be able to cope with a situation in which the underlying
TCP connection is terminated without a prior close notify alert and without a
Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 20
NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Connection: close indicator. Such a situation could be due to a programming error

on the server or a communication error that causes the TCP connection to drop.
 However, the unannounced TCP closure could be evidence of some sort of attack.
So the HTTPS client should issue some sort of security warning when this occurs.

5 SECURE SHELLS (SSH)

 Secure Shell (SSH) is a protocol for secure network communications designed to

be relatively simple and inexpensive to implement.
 The initial version, SSH1 was focused on providing a secure remote logon facility
to replace TELNET and Other remote logon schemes that provided no security.
 SSH also provides a more general client/server capability and can be used for
such network functions as file transfer and e-mail.
 A new version, SSH2, fixes a number of security flaws in the original scheme.
 SSH2 is documented as a proposed standard in IETF RFCs 4250 through 4256.
 SSH client and server applications are widely available for most operating
systems.
 It has become the method of choice for remote login and X tunnelling and is
rapidly becoming one of the most pervasive applications for encryption
technology outside of embedded systems.

Figure 8: SSH Protocol Stack

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 21

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 SSH is organized as three protocols that typically run on top of TCP ( above
Figure 8 ):
 Transport Layer Protocol: Provides server authentication, data
confidentiality, and data integrity with forward secrecy. The transport layer
may optionally provide compression.
 User Authentication Protocol: Authenticates the user to the server.
 Connection Protocol: Multiplexes multiple logical communications channels
over a single, underlying SSH connection.

5.1 TRANSPORT LAYER PROTOCOL

5.1.1 Host Keys

 Server authentication occurs at the transport layer, based on the server

possessing a public/private key pair.
 A server may have multiple host keys using multiple different asymmetric
encryption algorithms. Multiple hosts may share the same host key.
 In any case, the server host key is used during key exchange to authenticate the
identity of the host. For this to be possible, the client must have a priori
knowledge of the server’s public host key. RFC 4251 dictates two alternatives
Trust models that can be used:
1. The client has a local database that associates each host name (as typed by
the user) with the corresponding public host key. This method requires no
centrally administered infrastructure and no third-party coordination. The
downside is that the database of name-to-key associations may become
burdensome to maintain.
2. The host name-to-key association is certified by a trusted certification
authority (CA). The client only knows the CA root key and can verify the
validity of all host keys certified by accepted CAs. This alternative eases the
maintenance problem, since ideally, only a single CA key needs to be securely
stored on the client. On the other hand, each host key must be appropriately
certified by a central authority before authorization is possible.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 22

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

5.1.2 Packet Exchange

Figure (9) illustrates the sequence of events in the SSH Transport Layer Protocol.
First, the client establishes a TCP connection to the server. This is done via the TCP
protocol and is not part of the Transport Layer Protocol. Once the connection is
established, the client and server exchange data, Referred to as packets, in the data field
of a TCP segment. Each packet is in the following Format (Figure 10).

 Packet length: Length of the packet in bytes, not including the packet length
and MAC fields.
 Padding length: Length of the random padding field.
 Payload: Useful contents of the packet. Prior to algorithm negotiation, this
field is uncompressed. If compression is negotiated, then in subsequent
packets, this field is compressed.
 Random padding: Once an encryption algorithm has been negotiated, this
field is added. It contains random bytes of padding so that that total length of
the packet (excluding the MAC field) is a multiple of the cipher block size, or 8
bytes for a stream cipher.

Figure 9: SSH Transport Layer Protocol Packet Exchanges

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 23

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Figure 10: SSH Transport Layer Protocol Packet Formation

 Message authentication code (MAC):

 If message authentication has been negotiated, this field contains the MAC
value.
 The MAC value is computed over the entire packet plus a sequence
number, excluding the MAC field.
 The sequence number is an implicit 32-bit packet sequence that is
initialized to zero for the first packet and incremented for every packet.
 The sequence number is not included in the packet sent over the TCP
connection.
Once an encryption algorithm has been negotiated, the entire packet (excluding the
MAC field) is encrypted after the MAC value is calculated.
The SSH Transport Layer packet exchange consists of a sequence of steps (Figure 9).
1. The first step, the identification string exchange, begins with the client sending
a packet with an identification string of the form:
SSH-protoversion-software version SP comments CR LF
Where SP, CR, and LF are space character, carriage return, and line feed,
respectively

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 24

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

2. Next comes algorithm negotiation. Each side sends an SSH_MSG_KEXINIT

containing lists of supported algorithms in the order of preference to the sender.
There is one list for each type of cryptographic algorithm. The algorithms include
key exchange, encryption, MAC algorithm, and compression algorithm.
Below Table (2) shows the allowable options for encryption, MAC, and
compression.
3. The next step is key exchange.
 The specification allows for alternative methods of key exchange, but at present,
only two versions of Diffie-Hellman key exchange are specified. Both versions
are defined in RFC 2409 and require only one packet in each direction. The
following steps are involved in the exchange.
 In this, C is the client; S is the server; p is a large safe prime; g is a generator for a
subgroup Of GF (p); q is the order of the subgroup; V_S is S’s identification string;
V_C is C’s identification string; K_S is S’s public host key; I_C is C’s
SSH_MSG_KEXINIT message and I_S is S’s SSH_MSG_KEXINIT message that have
been exchanged before this part begins.
 The values of p, g, and q are known to both client and server as a result of the
algorithm selection negotiation.
 The hash function hash () is also decided during algorithm negotiation.
1) C generates a random number x (1 <x <q) and computes e = 𝑔𝑥 mod p. C sends
e to S.
2) S generates a random number y(0 < y <q) and computes f = 𝑔𝑦 mod p. S
receives e. It computes K = 𝑒𝑦 mod p, H = hash (V_C ‖ V_S ‖ I_C ‖ I_S ‖ K_S ‖ e ‖
f ‖ K), and signature s on H with its private host key. S sends (K_S ‖ f ‖ s) to C.
The signing operation may involve a second hashing operation.
3) C verifies that K_S really is the host key for S (e.g., using certificates or a local
Database). C is also allowed to accept the key without verification; however,
Doing so will render the protocol insecure against active attacks .C then
Computes K = 𝑓 𝑥 mod p, H = hash (V_C ‖ V_S ‖ I_C ‖ I_S ‖ K_S ‖ e ‖ f ‖K), And
verifies the signature s on H. Computes K = 𝑓 𝑥 mod p, H = hash (V_C ‖ V_S ‖ I_C
‖ I_S ‖ K_S ‖ e ‖ f ‖K), And verifies the signature s on H.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 25

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Table1 2: SSH Transport Layer Cryptographic Algorithms

 As a result of these steps, the two sides now share a master key K. In addition,
the server has been authenticated to the client, because the server has used its
private key to sign its half of the Diffie-Hellman exchange. Finally, the hash value
H serves as a session identifier for this connection. Once computed, the session
identifier is not changed, even if the key exchange is performed again for this
connection to obtain fresh keys.

4. The end of key exchange is signalled by the exchange of SSH_MSG_NEWKEYS

packets. At this point, both sides may start using the keys generated from K, as
discussed subsequently.

5. The final step is service request. The client sends an SSH_MSG_SERVICE_

REQUEST packet to request either the User Authentication or the Connection
Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 26
NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Protocol. Subsequent to this, all data is exchanged as the payload of an SSH

Transport Layer packet, protected by encryption and MAC.

5.1.3 Key generation

the keys used for encryption and MAC (and any needed IVs) are generated from
the shared secret key K, the hash value from the key exchange H, and the session
identifier, which is equal to H unless there has been a subsequent key exchange after the
initial key exchange.

The values are computed as follows.

 Initial IV client to server: HASH (K‖H‖ "A"‖ session _id)
 Initial IV server to client: HASH (K‖H‖ "B" ‖ session _id)
 Encryption key client to server: HASH (K‖H‖ "C" ‖ session _id)
 Encryption key server to client: HASH(K‖H‖ "D" ‖ session _id)
 Integrity key client to server: HASH(K‖H‖ "E" ‖ session _id)
 Integrity key server to client: HASH(K‖H‖"F" ‖ session _id)
Where HASH () is the hash function determined during algorithm negotiation.

5.2 USER AUTHENTICATION PROTOCOL

The User Authentication Protocol provides the means by which the client is
authenticated to the server.
5.2.1 Message Types and Formats
Three types of messages are always used in the User Authentication Protocol.
Authentication requests from the client have the format:
Byte SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST (50)
String user name
String service name
String method name
… Method specific fields
Where user name is the authorization identity the client is claiming, service
name is the facility to which the client is requesting access (typically the SSH Connection
Protocol), and method name is the authentication method being used in this request.
The first byte has decimal value 50, which is interpreted as
SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 27

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

If the server either (1) rejects the authentication request or (2) accepts the
request but requires one or more additional authentication methods, the server sends a
message with the format:
Byte SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE (51)
Name-list authentications that can continue
Boolean partial success
Where the name-list is a list of methods that may productively continue the
dialog.
If the server accepts authentication, it sends a single byte message: SSH_MSG_
USERAUTH_SUCCESS (52).

5.2.2 Message Exchange

The message exchange involves the following steps.
1. The client sends a SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST with a requested method Of
none.
2. The server checks to determine if the user name is valid. If not, the server
returns SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE with the partial success value of false. If
the user name is valid, the server proceeds to step 3.
3. The server returns SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_FAILURE with a list of one or more
authentication methods to be used.
4. The client selects one of the acceptable authentication methods and sends a
SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_REQUEST with that method name and the required
method-specific fields. At this point, there may be a sequence of exchanges to
perform the method.
5. If the authentication succeeds and more authentication methods are required,
the server proceeds to step 3, using a partial success value of true. If the
authentication fails, the server proceeds to step 3, using a partial success value of
false.
6. When all required authentication methods succeed, the server sends a
SSH_MSG_USERAUTH_SUCCESS message, and the Authentication Protocol is
over.

5.2.3 Authentication Methods

The server may require one or more of the following authentication methods.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 28

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

1. Public key: The details of this method depend on the public-key algorithm
chosen. In essence, the client sends a message to the server that contains the
client’s public key, with the message signed by the client’s private key. When the
server receives this message, it checks whether the supplied key is acceptable for
authentication and, if so, it checks whether the signature is correct.
2. Password: The client sends a message containing a plaintext password, which is
protected by encryption by the Transport Layer Protocol.
3. Host based: Authentication is performed on the client’s host rather than the
client itself. Thus, a host that supports multiple clients would provide
authentication for all its clients. This method works by having the client send a
signature created with the private key of the client host. Thus, rather than
directly verifying the user’s identity, the SSH server verifies the identity of the
client host—and then believes the host when it says the user has already
authenticated on the client side.

5.3 Connection Protocol

The SSH Connection Protocol runs on top of the SSH Transport Layer Protocol
and assumes that a secure authentication connection is in use. That secure
authentication connection, referred to as a tunnel, is used by the Connection Protocol to
multiplex a number of logical channels.

5.3.1 Channel Mechanism

1. All types of communication using SSH, such as a terminal session, are supported
using separate channels.
2. Either side may open a channel. For each channel, each side associates a unique
channel number, which need not be the same on both ends.
3. Channels are flow controlled using a window mechanism.
4. No data may be sent to a channel until a message is received to indicate that
window space is available. The life of a channel progresses through three stages:
opening a channel, data transfer, and closing a channel.
5. When either side wishes to open a new channel, it allocates a local number for
the channel and then sends a message of the form:
Byte SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_OPEN
String channel type

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 29

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Uint32 sender channel

Uint32 initial window size
Uint32 maximum packet size
…. channel type specific data follows
Where uint32 means unsigned 32-bit integer
6. The channel type identifies the application for this channel, as described
subsequently.
7. The sender channel is the local channel number.
8. The initial window size specifies how many bytes of channel data can be sent to
the sender of this message without adjusting the window.
9. The maximum packet size specifies the maximum size of an individual data
packet that can be sent to the sender.
10. Figure 11 provides an example of Connection Protocol Message Exchange.

Figure 11 Example of SSH Connection Protocol Message Exchange

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 30

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

Above figure

 Once a channel is open, data transfer is performed using a SSH_MSG_

CHANNEL_DATA message, which includes the recipient channel number and a
block of data. These messages, in both directions, may continue as long as the
channel is open.
 When either side wishes to close a channel, it sends a SSH_MSG_CHANNEL_
CLOSE message, which includes the recipient channel number.

5.3.2 Channel Types

Four channel types are recognized in the SSH Connection Protocol specification.

 Session: The remote execution of a program. The program may be a shell, an

application such as file transfer or e-mail, a system command, or some built-in
subsystem. Once a session channel is opened, subsequent requests are used to
start the remote program.
 X11: This refers to the X Window System, a computer software system and
network protocol that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for networked
computers. X allows applications to run on a network server but to be displayed
on a desktop machine.
 Forwarded-tcpip: This is remote port forwarding, as explained in the next
subsection.
 Direct-tcpip: This is local port forwarding, as explained in the next subsection.

5.3.3 Port Forwarding

 One of the most useful features of SSH is port forwarding. In essence, port
forwarding provides the ability to convert any insecure TCP connection into a
secure SSH connection. This is also referred to as SSH tunnelling. t.
 A port is an identifier of a user of TCP.
 So, any application that runs on top of TCP has a port number.
 Incoming TCP traffic is delivered to the appropriate application on the basis of
the port number.
 An application may employ multiple port numbers.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 31

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 For example, for the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, the server side generally
listens on port 25, so an incoming SMTP request uses TCP and addresses the data
to destination port 25. TCP recognizes that this is the SMTP server address and
routes the data to the SMTP server application.

Figure 12 illustrates the basic concept behind port forwarding.

 We have a client application that is identified by port number x and a server

application identified by port number y.
 At some point, the client application invokes the local TCP entity and requests a
connection to the remote server on port y.
 The local TCP entity negotiates a TCP connection with the remote TCP entity,
such that the connection links local port x to remote port y.
 To secure this connection, SSH is configured so that the SSH Transport Layer
Protocol establishes a TCP connection between the SSH client and server entities,
with TCP port numbers a and b, respectively.

Figure 12 SSH Transport Layer Packet Exchanges

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 32

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

 A secure SSH tunnel is established over this TCP connection.

 Traffic from the client at port x is redirected to the local SSH entity and travels
through the tunnel where the remote SSH entity delivers the data to the server
application on port y.
 Traffic in the other direction is similarly redirected.
 SSH supports two types of port forwarding: local forwarding and remote
forwarding.
 Local forwarding :
 allows the client to set up a “hijacker” process. This will intercept selected
application-level traffic and redirect it from an unsecured TCP connection to
a secure SSH tunnel.
 The following example should help clarify local forwarding. Suppose you
have an e-mail client on your desktop and use it to get e-mail from your mail
server via the Post Office Protocol (POP). The assigned port number for POP3
is port 110.
 We can secure this traffic in the following way:
1. The SSH client sets up a connection to the remote server.
2. Select an unused local port number, say 9999, and configure SSH to accept
traffic from this port destined for port 110 on the server.
3. The SSH client informs the SSH server to create a connection to the
destination, in this case mail server port 110.
4. The client takes any bits sent to local port 9999 and sends them to the server
inside the encrypted SSH session. The SSH server decrypts the incoming bits
and sends the plaintext to port 110.
5. In the other direction, the SSH server takes any bits received on port 110 and
sends them inside the SSH session back to the client, who decrypts and sends
them to the process connected to port 9999.
 Remote forwarding
 The user’s SSH client acts on the server’s behalf. The client receives traffic
with a given destination port number, places the traffic on the correct port
and sends it to the destination the user chooses.
 A typical example of remote forwarding is the following. You wish to access a
server at work from your home computer. Because the work server is behind

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 33

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

a firewall, it will not accept an SSH request from your home computer.
However, from work you can set up an SSH tunnel using remote forwarding.
This involves the following steps.
1. From the work computer, set up an SSH connection to your home computer. The
firewall will allow this, because it is a protected outgoing connection.
2. Configure the SSH server to listen on a local port, say 22, and to deliver data
across the SSH connection addressed to remote port, say 2222.
3. You can now go to your home computer, and configure SSH to accept traffic on
port 2222.
4. You now have an SSH tunnel that can be used for remote logon to the work
server.

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 34

NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY 15EC835, 17EC835

QUESTION BANK – NETWORK AND CYBER SECURITY

MODULE-1
MAY/JUNE-2010
1. Explain secure socket layer (SSL) protocol stack with a neat diagram and define the
different parameters used in session and connection states. (10M)

DEC-2010
1. Explain the various phases of SSL handshake protocol. (12M)

JUN/JULY-2017
1. Discuss security socket layer (SSL) record protocol in terms of fragmentation,
compression and encryption. (10M)
JUNE/JULY-2011
1. Explain the two SSL concepts with their parameters. (10M)

DEC-2011
1. With a diagram, explain handshake protocol action.(8M)
2. Explain SSL protocol stack. (4M)

JUNE-2012
1. Discuss SSL record protocol in terms of fragmentation, compression and
encryption.(10M)

DEC-2012
1. Explain SSL architecture with neat diagram. (10M)
2. What is the difference b/w SSL connection and SSL session? (04M)

JUNE/JULY-2013
1. List different types of threats and consequence when using the web. Also
countermeasures to be taken. (08M)
2. Elucidate SSL architecture. (08M)

JAN-2015
1. Explain the various phases of SSL handshake protocol. (10M)

DEC/JAN-2016
1. Explain the SSL architecture. (10M)

Dept. of ECE, BGSIT, BG Nagara, Mandya Page 35