Distributed Certified Information Access for Mobile Devices ⋆

Abstract. In this paper we describe a primitive, which we call, Certified Information Access, in which a database answers to a query by providing the information matching the query along with a proof that such information are consistent with the actual content of the database. We show that such a primitive can be securely implemented in a distributed fashion. Furthermore, we describe the design principles for a distributed architecture that would allow the use of this primitive on mobile devices. Key words: Secure protocols; Secure services for mobile devices.

On the Performance and Analysis of DNS Security Extensions

The Domain Name System (DNS) is an essential component of the critical infrastructure of the Internet. The role of DNS is vital, as it is involved in virtually every Internet transaction. It is sometimes remarked that DNS works well as it is now and any changes to it may disrupt its functionality and add complexity. However, due to its importance, an insecure DNS is unacceptable for current and future networks. The astonishing simplicity of mounting an attack against the DNS and the damaging potential of such an attack should convince practitioners and system administrators to employ a secure version of DNS. However, security comes with a cost. In this paper, we examine the performance of two proposals for secure DNS and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both. In particular, we analyze the impact that security measures have on the performance of DNS. While it is clear that adding security will lower DNS performance, our results show that the impact of security can be mitigated by deploying different security extensions at different levels in the DNS tree. We also describe the first..

On the performance and analysis of DNS security extensions

The Domain Name System (DNS) is an essential component of the critical infrastructure of the Internet. The role of DNS is vital, as it is involved in virtually every Internet transaction. It is sometimes remarked that DNS works well as it is now and any changes to it may disrupt its functionality and add complexity. However, due to its importance, an insecure DNS is unacceptable for current and future networks. The astonishing simplicity of mounting an attack against the DNS and the damaging potential of such an attack should convince practitioners and system administrators to employ a secure version of DNS. However, security comes with a cost. In this paper, we examine the performance of two proposals for secure DNS and we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both. In particular, we analyze the impact that security measures have on the performance of DNS. While it is clear that adding security will lower DNS performance, our results show that the impact of security can be mitigated by deploying different security extensions at different levels in the DNS tree. We also describe the first implementation of the SK-DNSSEC [1] protocol. The code is freely downloadable and released under an open-source license. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005

A secure file sharing service for distributed computing environments

Distributed cryptographic file systems enable file sharing among their users and need the adoption of a key management scheme for the distribution of the cryptographic keys to authorized users according to their specific degree of trust. In this paper we describe the architecture of a basic secure file sharing facility relying on a multi-party threshold-based key-sharing scheme that can be overlaid on top of the existing stackable networked file systems, and discuss its application to the implementation of distributed cryptographic file systems. It provides flexible access control policies supporting multiple combination of roles and trust profiles. A proof of concept prototype implementation within the Linux operating system framework demonstrated its effectiveness in terms of performance and security robustness. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013