TWallet ARM TrustZone Enabled Trustable Mobile Wallet: A Case for Cryptocurrency Wallets

With the increasing popularity of Blockchains supporting virtual cryptocurrencies it has become more important to have secure devices supporting operations in trustable cryp- tocurrency wallets. These wallets, currently implemented as mobile Apps or components of mobile Apps must be protected from possible intrusion attacks. ARM TrustZone technology has made available an extension of the ARM processor ar- chitecture, allowing for the isolation of trusted and non-trusted execution environments. Critical components and their runtime support can be "booted" and loaded to run in the isolated execution environment, backed by the ARM processor. The ARM TrustZone solution provides the possible enforcement of security and privacy conditions for applica- tions, ensuring the containment of sensitive software components and data-management facilities, isolating them from OS-level intrusion attacks. The idea is that sensitive compo- nents and managed data are executed with a trust computing base supported at hardware and firmware levels, not affected by intrusions against non-protected OS-level runtime components. In this dissertation we propose TWallet: a solution designed as a generic model to sup- port secure and trustable Mobile Client Wallets (implemented as mobile Apps), backed by the ARM TrustZone technology. The objective is to manage local sensitive stored data and processing components in a trust execution environment isolated from the Android OS. We believe that the proposed TWallet framework model can also inspire other specific solutions that can benefit from the isolation of sensitive components in mobile Android Apps. As a proof-of-concept, we used the TWallet framework model to implement a trusted wallet application used as an Ethereum wallet, to operate with the Ethereum Blockchain. To achieve our goals, we also conducted different experimental observations to analyze and validate the solution, with the implemented wallet integrated, tested and validated with the Rinkeby Ethereum Test Network.Com o aumento da popularidade de Blockchains e utilização de sistemas de criptomoedas, tornou-se cada vez mais importante a utilização de dispositivos seguros para suportar aplicações de carteiras móveis (vulgarmente conhecidas por mobile wallets ou mobile cryptowallets). Estas aplicações permitem aos utilizadores uma gestão local, cómoda, confiável e segura de dados e operações integradas com sistemas de Blockchains. Estas carteiras digitais, como aplicações móveis completas ou como componentes de outras aplicações, têm sido desenvolvidas de forma generalizada para diferentes sistemas operativos convencionais, nomeadamente para o sistema operativo Android e para diferentes sistemas de criptomoedas. As wallets devem permitir processar e armazenar informação sensível associada ao controlo das operações realizadas, incluindo gestão e consulta de saldos de criptomoedas, realização e consultas de históricos de movimentos de transações ou consolidação do estado destas operações integradas com as Blockchains remotas. Devem também garantir o controlo seguro e confiável do processamento criptográfico envolvido, bem como a segurança das respetivas chaves criptográficas utilizadas. A Tecnologia ARM TrustZone disponibiliza um conjunto de extensões para as arquiteturas de processadores ARM, possibilitando o isolamento e execução de código num ambiente de execução suportado ao nível do hardware do próprio processador ARM. Isto possibilita que componentes críticos de aplicações ou de sistemas operativos suportados em processadores ARM, possam executar em ambientes isolados com minimização propiciada pelo isolamento da sua Base de Computação Confiável (ou Trusted Computing Base). A execução em ambiente seguro suportado pela solução TrustZone pode oferecer assim um reforço adicional de propriedades de confiabilidade, segurança e privacidade. Isto possibilita isolar componentes e dados críticos de possíveis ataques ou intrusões ao nível do processamento e gestão de memória ou armazenamento suportados pelo sistema operativo ou bibliotecas middleware, como é usual no caso de aplicações móveis, executando em ambiente Android OS ou noutros sistemas operativos de dispositivos móveis. Nesta dissertação propomos a solução TWallet, uma aproximação genérica para suporte de wallets utilizadas como aplicações móveis confiáveis em ambiente Android OS e fortalecidas pela utilização da tecnologia ARM TrustZone. O objetivo é possibilitar o isolamento de dados e componentes sensíveis deste tipo de aplicações, tornando-as mais seguras e confiáveis. Acreditamos que o modelo de desenho e implementação da solução TWallet, visto como uma framework de referência, poderá também ser utilizada no desenvolvimento de outras aplicações móveis em que o isolamento e segurança de componentes e dados críticos são requisitos semelhantes aos endereçados. Este pode ser o caso de aplicações de pagamento móvel, aplicações bancárias na área de mobile banking ou aplicações de bilhética na área vulgarmente chamada como mobile e-ticketing, entre outras. Como prova de conceito, utilizámos a TWallet framework para implementar um protótipo de uma wallet confiável, suportável em Android OS, para gestão de operações e criptomoedas na Blockchain Ethereum. A implementação foi integrada, testada e validada na rede Rinkeby Test Network - uma rede de desenvolvimento e testes utilizada como primeiro estágio de validação de aplicações e componentes para a rede Ethereum em operação real. Para validação da solução TWallet foi realizada uma avaliação experimen- tal. Esta avaliação envolveu a observação de indicadores de operação com verificação e comparação de diferentes métricas de operação e desempenho, bem como de alocação de recursos da aplicação protegida no modelo TWallet, comparando esses mesmo indicadores com o caso da mesma aplicação sem essa proteção

Mobile Ticketing Framework for Malaysia’s Cinemas

From simple and manual life into electronic services finally into mobile electronic services, the solutions of mobility services made it easier to obtain many things at anytime and anywhere, with this new services and technologies the time has come to open an another marketing channel to express product and services to the consumers. Where in strong economic structure and the successful commercial marketing, the electronic commerce Including (electronic ticketing, mobile commerce and mobile ticketing) is changing the style of company's marketing, production, and operation, in addition it facilitated the life, reduced the cost and increased the profits.In context of mobility is a crucial part of the work, this research addresses to design and development a reservation system prototype based mobile e-ticketing for Malaysia's cinemas with kedah's scope. This prototype contains two parts, web and WAP application service, web application to make ability to manage cinemas and the WAP application to give the user the possibility of booking by using mobile phone

A survey on the (in)security of trusted execution environments

As the number of security and privacy attacks continue to grow around the world, there is an ever increasing need to protect our personal devices. As a matter of fact, more and more manufactures are relying on Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to shield their devices. In particular, ARM TrustZone (TZ) is being widely used in numerous embedded devices, especially smartphones, and this technology is the basis for secure solutions both in industry and academia. However, as shown in this paper, TEE is not bullet-proof and it has been successfully attacked numerous times and in very different ways. To raise awareness among potential stakeholders interested in this technology, this paper provides an extensive analysis and categorization of existing vulnerabilities in TEEs and highlights the design flaws that led to them. The presented vulnerabilities, which are not only extracted from existing literature but also from publicly available exploits and databases, are accompanied by some effective countermeasures to reduce the likelihood of new attacks. The paper ends with some appealing challenges and open issues.Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBUA This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the SecureEDGE project (PID2019-110565RB-I00), and by the by the Andalusian FEDER 2014–2020 Program through the SAVE project (PY18-3724)

Improving trust in cloud, enterprise, and mobile computing platforms

Trust plays a fundamental role in the adoption of technology by society. Potential consumers tend to avoid a particular technology whenever they feel suspicious about its ability to cope with their security demands. Such a loss of trust could occur in important computing platforms, namely cloud, enterprise, and mobile platforms. In this thesis, we aim to improve trust in these platforms by (i) enhancing their security mechanisms, and (ii) giving their users guarantees that these mechanisms are in place. To realize both these goals, we propose several novel systems. For cloud platforms, we present Excalibur, a system that enables building trusted cloud services. Such services give cloud customers the ability to process data privately in the cloud, and to attest that the respective data protection mechanisms are deployed. Attestation is made possible by the use of trusted computing hardware placed on the cloud nodes. For enterprise platforms, we propose an OS security model—the broker security model—aimed at providing information security against a negligent or malicious system administrator while letting him retain most of the flexibility to manage the OS. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this model by building BrokULOS, a proof-of-concept instantiation of this model for Linux. For mobile platforms, we present the Trusted Language Runtime (TLR), a software system for hosting mobile apps with stringent security needs (e.g., e-wallet). The TLR leverages ARM TrustZone technology to protect mobile apps from OS security breaches.Für die gesellschaftliche Akzeptanz von Technologie spielt Vertrauen eine entscheidende Rolle. Wichtige Rechnerplattformen erfüllen diesbezüglich die Anforderungen ihrer Nutzer jedoch nicht zufriedenstellend. Dies trifft insbesondere auf Cloud-, Unternehmens- und Mobilplattformen zu. In dieser Arbeit setzen wir uns zum Ziel, das Vertrauen in diese Plattformen zu stärken, indem wir (1) ihre Sicherheitsmechanismen verbessern sowie (2) garantieren, dass diese Sicherheitsmechanismen aktiv sind. Zu diesem Zweck schlagen wir mehrere neuartige Systeme vor. Für Cloud-Plattformen präsentieren wir Excalibur, welches das Erstellen von vertrauenswürdigen Cloud-Diensten ermöglicht. Diese Cloud-Dienste erlauben es den Benutzern, ihre Daten in der Cloud vertraulich zu verarbeiten und sich darüber hinaus den Einsatz entsprechender Schutzvorkehrungen bescheinigen zu lassen. Eine solche Attestierung geschieht mit Hilfe von Trusted Computing Hardware auf den Cloud-Servern. Für Unternehmensplattformen stellen wir ein Sicherheitsmodell auf Betriebssystemebene vor—das Broker Security Model. Es zielt darauf ab, Informationssicherheit trotz fahrlässigem oder böswilligem Systemadministrator zu gewährleisten, ohne diesen bei seinen Administrationsaufgaben stark einzuschränken. Wir demonstrieren die Leistungsfähigkeit dieses Modells mit BrokULOS, einer Prototypimplementierung für Linux. Für Mobilplattformen stellen wir die Trusted Language Runtime (TLR) vor, ein Softwaresystem zum Hosting von mobilen Anwendungen mit strikten Sicherheitsanforderungen (z.B. elektronische Bezahlfunktionen). TLR nutzt die ARM TrustZone-Technologie um mobile Anwendungen vor Sicherheitslücken im Betriebssystem selbst zu schützen

Automating Data Rights

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 18181 “Towards Accountable Systems”, which took place from April 29th to May 4th, 2018, at Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz Center for Informatics. Researchers and practitioners from academia and industry were brought together covering broad fields from computer and information science, public policy and law. Many risks and opportunities were discussed that relate to the alignment of systems technologies with developing legal and regulatory requirements and evolving user expectations. This report summarises outcomes of the seminar by highlighting key future research directions and challenges that lie on the path to developing systems that better align with accountability concerns

A Mobile Secure Bluetooth-Enabled Cryptographic Provider

The use of digital X509v3 public key certificates, together with different standards for secure digital signatures are commonly adopted to establish authentication proofs between principals, applications and services. One of the robustness characteristics commonly associated with such mechanisms is the need of hardware-sealed cryptographic devices, such as Hardware-Security Modules (or HSMs), smart cards or hardware-enabled tokens or dongles. These devices support internal functions for management and storage of cryptographic keys, allowing the isolated execution of cryptographic operations, with the keys or related sensitive parameters never exposed. The portable devices most widely used are USB-tokens (or security dongles) and internal ships of smart cards (as it is also the case of citizen cards, banking cards or ticketing cards). More recently, a new generation of Bluetooth-enabled smart USB dongles appeared, also suitable to protect cryptographic operations and digital signatures for secure identity and payment applications. The common characteristic of such devices is to offer the required support to be used as secure cryptographic providers. Among the advantages of those portable cryptographic devices is also their portability and ubiquitous use, but, in consequence, they are also frequently forgotten or even lost. USB-enabled devices imply the need of readers, not always and not commonly available for generic smartphones or users working with computing devices. Also, wireless-devices can be specialized or require a development effort to be used as standard cryptographic providers. An alternative to mitigate such problems is the possible adoption of conventional Bluetooth-enabled smartphones, as ubiquitous cryptographic providers to be used, remotely, by client-side applications running in users’ devices, such as desktop or laptop computers. However, the use of smartphones for safe storage and management of private keys and sensitive parameters requires a careful analysis on the adversary model assumptions. The design options to implement a practical and secure smartphone-enabled cryptographic solution as a product, also requires the approach and the better use of the more interesting facilities provided by frameworks, programming environments and mobile operating systems services. In this dissertation we addressed the design, development and experimental evaluation of a secure mobile cryptographic provider, designed as a mobile service provided in a smartphone. The proposed solution is designed for Android-Based smartphones and supports on-demand Bluetooth-enabled cryptographic operations, including standard digital signatures. The addressed mobile cryptographic provider can be used by applications running on Windows-enabled computing devices, requesting digital signatures. The solution relies on the secure storage of private keys related to X509v3 public certificates and Android-based secure elements (SEs). With the materialized solution, an application running in a Windows computing device can request standard digital signatures of documents, transparently executed remotely by the smartphone regarded as a standard cryptographic provider

Cryptographic protocols for privacy-aware and secure e-commerce

Aquesta tesi tracta sobre la investigació i el desenvolupament de tecnologies de millora de la privadesa per a proporcionar als consumidors de serveis de comerç electrònic el control sobre quanta informació privada volen compartir amb els proveïdors de serveis. Fem servir tecnologies existents, així com tecnologies desenvolupades durant aquesta tesi, per a protegir als usuaris de la recoleció excessiva de dades per part dels proveïdors de serveis en aplicacions específiques. En particular, fem servir un nou esquema de signatura digital amb llindar dinàmic i basat en la identitat per a implementar un mecanisme d'acreditació de la mida d'un grup d'usuaris, que només revela el nombre d'integrants del grup, per a implementar descomptes de grup. A continuació, fem servir una nova construcció basada en signatures cegues, proves de coneixement nul i tècniques de generalització per implementar un sistema de descomptes de fidelitat que protegeix la privadesa dels consumidors. Per últim, fem servir protocols de computació multipart per a implementar dos mecanismes d'autenticació implícita que no revelen informació privada de l'usuari al proveïdor de serveis.Esta tesis trata sobre la investigación y desarrollo de tecnologías de mejora de la privacidad para proporcionar a los consumidores de servicios de comercio electrónico el control sobre cuanta información privada quieren compartir con los proveedores de servicio. Utilizamos tecnologías existentes y desarrolladas en esta tesis para proteger a los usuarios de la recolección excesiva de datos por parte de los proveedores de servicio en aplicaciones especfíficas. En particular, utilizamos un nuevo esquema de firma digital basado en la identidad y con umbral dinámico para implementar un sistema de acreditación del tamaño de un grupo, que no desvela ninguna información de los miembros del grupo excepto el número de integrantes, para construir un sistema de descuentos de grupo. A continuación, utilizamos una nueva construcción basada en firmas ciegas, pruebas de conocimiento nulo y técnicas de generalización para implementar un sistema de descuentos de fidelidad que protege la privacidad de los consumidores. Por último, hacemos uso de protocolos de computación multiparte para implementar dos mecanismos de autenticación implícita que no revelan información privada del usuario al proveedor de servicios.This thesis is about the research and development of privacy enhancing techniques to empower consumers of electronic commerce services with the control on how much private information they want to share with the service providers. We make use of known and newly developed technologies to protect users against excessive data collection by service providers in specific applications. Namely, we use a novel identity-based dynamic threshold signature scheme and a novel key management scheme to implement a group size accreditation mechanism, that does not reveal anything about group members but the size of the group, to support group discounts. Next, we use a novel construction based on blind signatures, zero-knowledge proofs and generalization techniques to implement a privacy-preserving loyalty programs construction. Finally, we use multiparty computation protocols to implement implicit authentication mechanisms that do not disclose private information about the users to the service providers