Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) and Commodity Security Protocols: Introduction and Integration

We present an overview of quantum key distribution (QKD), a secure key exchange method based on the quantum laws of physics rather than computational complexity. We also provide an overview of the two most widely used commodity security protocols, IPsec and TLS. Pursuing a key exchange model, we propose how QKD could be integrated into these security applications. For such a QKD integration we propose a support layer that provides a set of common QKD services between the QKD protocol and the security applicationsComment: 12Page

Diversity, Safety and Security in Embedded Systems: modelling adversary effort and supply chain risks

We present quantitative considerations for the design of redundancy and diversity in embedded systems with security requirements. The potential for malicious activity against these systems have complicated requirements and design choices. New design trade-offs have arisen besides those already familiar in this area: for instance, adding redundancy may increase the attack surface of a system and thus increase overall risk. Our case study concerns protecting redundant communications between a control system and its controlled physical system. We study the effects of using: (i) different encryption keys on replicated channels, and (ii) diverse encryption schemes and implementations. We consider two attack scenarios, with adversaries having access to (i) ways of reducing the search space in attacks using random searches for keys; or (ii) hidden major flaws in some crypto algorithm or implementation. Trade-offs between the requirements of integrity and confidentiality are found, but not in all cases. Simple models give useful design insights. In this system, we find that key diversity improves integrity without impairing confidentiality – no trade-offs arise between the two – and it can substantially increase adversary effort, but it will not remedy substantial weaknesses of the crypto system. Implementation diversity does involve design trade-offs between integrity and confidentiality, which we analyse, but turns out to be generally desirable for highly critical applications of the control system considered

An Authentication Protocol for Future Sensor Networks

Authentication is one of the essential security services in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for ensuring secure data sessions. Sensor node authentication ensures the confidentiality and validity of data collected by the sensor node, whereas user authentication guarantees that only legitimate users can access the sensor data. In a mobile WSN, sensor and user nodes move across the network and exchange data with multiple nodes, thus experiencing the authentication process multiple times. The integration of WSNs with Internet of Things (IoT) brings forth a new kind of WSN architecture along with stricter security requirements; for instance, a sensor node or a user node may need to establish multiple concurrent secure data sessions. With concurrent data sessions, the frequency of the re-authentication process increases in proportion to the number of concurrent connections, which makes the security issue even more challenging. The currently available authentication protocols were designed for the autonomous WSN and do not account for the above requirements. In this paper, we present a novel, lightweight and efficient key exchange and authentication protocol suite called the Secure Mobile Sensor Network (SMSN) Authentication Protocol. In the SMSN a mobile node goes through an initial authentication procedure and receives a re-authentication ticket from the base station. Later a mobile node can use this re-authentication ticket when establishing multiple data exchange sessions and/or when moving across the network. This scheme reduces the communication and computational complexity of the authentication process. We proved the strength of our protocol with rigorous security analysis and simulated the SMSN and previously proposed schemes in an automated protocol verifier tool. Finally, we compared the computational complexity and communication cost against well-known authentication protocols.Comment: This article is accepted for the publication in "Sensors" journal. 29 pages, 15 figure