« Previous 1 2 3
Attacks on HTTPS Connections
Tapped in
Conclusions
The vulnerabilities presented in this article have led to a lack of confidence in encrypted connections, but they have effective countermeasures, as well, and the dangers can be controlled. The biggest problem is the existing certification system. Browsers and operating systems simply trust too many CAs on faith. If any one of them plays false, they are successfully attacked; if they don't work properly, valid but unauthorized certificates are created that make attacks much easier for a MitM.
Public key pinning and certificate pinning make it much more difficult for these attacks to be successful. Google, for example, has discovered wrongly issued certificates for its Google domains on many occasions using these methods, so the danger is absolutely real.
Infos
- Perfect forward secrecy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forward_secrecy
- OWASP: "Certificate and Public Key Pinning": https://www.owasp.org/index.php/Certificate_and_Public_Key_Pinning
- "EMET 4.0's Certificate Trust feature" by Elia Florio: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/srd/2013/05/08/emet-4-0s-certificate-trust-feature
- RFC 7469: Public Key Pinning extension for HTTP: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7469
- OWASP: "HTTP Strict Transport Security": https://www.owasp.org/index.php/HTTP_Strict_Transport_Security
- Moxie Marlinspike: sslstrip: https://moxie.org/software/sslstrip/
- "PSA: In Firefox 44 Nightly" by Richard Barnes: https://twitter.com/rlbarnes/status/656554266744586240
- RFC 6797: HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS): https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6797
- "CookieMonster nabs user creds from secure sites" by Dan Goodin: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/11/cookiemonstor_rampage/
- "Firesheep: Baaaaad News for the Unwary" by Brian Krebs: http://krebsonsecurity.com/2010/10/firesheep-baaaaad-news-for-the-unwary/
- RFC 7465: Prohibiting RC4 cipher suites: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7465
« Previous 1 2 3
Buy ADMIN Magazine
US / Canada
UK / Australia
Related content
-
Secure SSH connections the right way
Admins use SSH, the proverbial Swiss army knife of system management, for many of their daily tasks, but no matter how powerful the tool might be, it typically does not offer adequate protection. We look at ways to tighten SSH security. -
Transport Encryption with DANE and DNSSEC
Those who think that enabling STARTTLS in the mail client will make their mail traffic more secure are wrong. Only those who bank on DANE can be sure that a mail server or a firewall will not switch off encryption in transit. -
Detecting and analyzing man-in-the-middle attacks
Wireshark and a combination of tools comprehensively analyze your security architecture. -
Windows security with public key infrastructures
A rarely used feature for improving security in Windows environments relies on certificates issued for various applications, services, and procedures that is based on a public key infrastructure. -
SSL/TLS best practices for websites
SSL and TLS are very complex technologies. If you want to avoid wading through cryptography manuals to harden your HTTPS web server, read on for practical recommendations on establishing, securing, and optimizing your SSL/TLS configuration.
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Most Popular
Support Our Work
ADMIN content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you've found an article to be beneficial.
