In this project we are defining tools for building high integrity internetwork architectures based on authentication techniques. The key to strengthening the Internet against attacks on critical services is assured implementation of access control policies and ability to configure the appropriate security services at the appropriate places in the network software architecture. There is no single answer to the problem of strongly enforced administrative policy; organizations will coalesce around a variety of solutions: secure links, authentication tokens, end-to-end encryption, etc. Our approach can supply a single architectural and implementation methodology that addresses the classic problems of integrity, authentication, privacy, and the prevention of denial-of-service attacks in a generic fashion. These methods support the easy implementation and integration into existing systems that is necessary for the wide deployment of practical, high integrity systems.
The work plan covers representation of authentication domains as objects in much the same way that other work has led to the representation of protocols as composable objects. It also develops uniform security protocol designs and the closely coupled incorporation of rule-based systems to represent the authentication logic behind several of the protocols.
This work is complemented by research funded by the National Computer Security Center:
The problem of engineering high-quality security protocol implementations for Multi-Level Security (MLS) operating systems is the focus of this project. We are developing an integrated architecture that supports high-performance networking, secure system design principles, and security specific enhancements for cryptography implementation and policy implementation. Our approach builds on modular, composable architecture principles and design techniques. The research challenge is to show that this can be extended to multi-level secure systems and continue to support the dual goals of performance and protocol security without loss of quality in either.
This work adds the underpinnings for MLS design principles to the principles of modular protocol design and engineering protocols for high performance in modern networks. During the last two years we have shown the strength of our architectural approach in developing a composable cryptographic protocol library and demonstrating the decomposition and complex security protocols. This work expands on that effort in an MLS environment and also investigates using additional processing power (more processors, special purpose processors) within the same architectural framework for supporting high-speed software cryptography.