Secure Channels and Layering of Protocols
- When?
- Monday 9 February 2009, 14:00 to 15:00
- Where?
- 39BB02
- Open to:
- Staff, Students
Prof Gavin Lowe, Computing Laboratory, University of Oxford
Abstract:
A security protocol is an exchange of messages between two or more agents,with security-relevant goals. Over the last 15 years, much progress has been made on techniques for analysing security protocols.
Many modern security architectures make use of layered protocols: a special-purpose application protocol is layered on top of a general-purpose secure transport protocol (such as TLS). The secure transport protocol provides some kind of secure channel to the application protocol.
Designing protocols in this way gives clear advantages: it separates concerns, and so provides for a clearer design. But what services does the secure transport protocol provide to the application protocol? (Or, conversely, what services does the application protocol require from the secure transport protocol?) And how should we analyse architectures that are built in this way?
