A Capability to Improve Security for Remote Working
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Edith Cowan University Research Online Theses: Doctorates and Masters Theses 2015 Secure portable execution and storage environments: A capability to improve security for remote working Peter James Edith Cowan University Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses Part of the Human Resources Management Commons, Information Security Commons, and the Technology and Innovation Commons Recommended Citation James, P. (2015). Secure portable execution and storage environments: A capability to improve security for remote working. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1707 This Thesis is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1707 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: x Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. x A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. x A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material. Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. SECURE PORTABLE EXECUTION AND STORAGE ENVIRONMENTS: A CAPABILITY TO IMPROVE SECURITY FOR REMOTE WORKING Peter James BSc. (Hons) Computer Science MSc. System Design Grad. Dip. Management Studies This thesis is presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Health, Engineering and Science Edith Cowan University October 2015 Abstract Remote working is a practice that provides economic benefits to both the employing organisation and the individual. However, evidence suggests that organisations implementing remote working have limited appreciation of the security risks, particularly those impacting upon the confidentiality and integrity of information and also on the integrity and availability of the remote worker’s computing environment. Other research suggests that an organisation that does appreciate these risks may veto remote working, resulting in a loss of economic benefits. With the implementation of high speed broadband, remote working is forecast to grow and therefore it is appropriate that improved approaches to managing security risks are researched. This research explores the use of secure portable execution and storage environments (secure PESEs) to improve information security for the remote work categories of telework, and mobile and deployed working. This thesis with publication makes an original contribution to improving remote work information security through the development of a body of knowledge (consisting of design models and design instantiations) and the assertion of a nascent design theory. The research was conducted using design science research (DSR), a paradigm where the research philosophies are grounded in design and construction. Following an assessment of both the remote work information security issues and threats, and preparation of a set of functional requirements, a secure PESE concept was defined. The concept is represented by a set of attributes that encompass the security properties of preserving the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the computing environment and data. A computing environment that conforms to the concept is considered to be a secure PESE, the implementation of which consists of a highly portable device utilising secure storage and an up-loadable (on to a PC) secure execution environment. The secure storage and execution environment combine to address the information security risks in the remote work location. A research gap was identified as no existing ‘secure PESE like’ device fully conformed to the concept, enabling a research problem and objectives to be defined. Novel secure ii storage and execution environments were developed and used to construct a secure PESE suitable for commercial remote work and a high assurance secure PESE suitable for security critical remote work. The commercial secure PESE was trialled with an existing telework team looking to improve security and the high assurance secure PESE was trialled within an organisation that had previously vetoed remote working due to the sensitivity of the data it processed. An evaluation of the research findings found that the objectives had been satisfied. Using DSR evaluation frameworks it was determined that the body of knowledge had improved an area of study with sufficient evidence generated to assert a nascent design theory for secure PESEs. The thesis highlights the limitations of the research while opportunities for future work are also identified. This thesis presents ten published papers coupled with additional doctoral research (that was not published) which postulates the research argument that ‘secure PESEs can be used to manage information security risks within the remote work environment’. iii The declaration page is not included in this version of the thesis Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge and thank Don Griffiths and Peter Hannay for their contribution to the four jointly written papers forming part of this thesis. Thank you also for the support provided by my employer Secure Systems Limited and my supervisors. Finally a big thank you to my family for the support they have provided during this long and, at times demanding experience. v Table of Contents ABSTRACT II DECLARATION IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS V TABLE OF CONTENTS VI 1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 BACKGROUND 1 1.2 OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH AND THE RESEARCH ARGUMENT 3 1.3 MOTIVATION FOR RESEARCH 4 1.4 KEY TERMS AND DEFINITIONS 6 1.5 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND QUESTIONS 8 1.6 RESEARCH PARADIGM AND METHODOLOGY 9 1.7 PRIOR RESEARCH AND EXISTING KNOWLEDGE 10 1.7.1 Knowledge Classes 10 1.7.2 Knowledge Consumed 11 1.8 KNOWLEDGE CONTRIBUTION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE 11 1.8.1 The Growth of Knowledge over Time 11 1.8.2 Positioning the Research 12 1.8.3 Significance of Research 12 1.9 SCOPE OF RESEARCH 13 1.9.1 Remote Work Categories Considered 13 1.9.2 Security Issues 14 1.9.3 Remote Workers 15 1.9.4 Secure PESEs 15 1.9.5 Limitations and Constraints 16 1.10 THE RESEARCH PAPERS 17 1.11 EVOLUTION OF KEY CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY 19 1.12 STRUCTURE OF THESIS 22 1.13 SUMMARY 23 2 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND OBJECTIVES 24 2.1 OVERVIEW 24 2.1.1 Structure 24 2.1.2 Establishing the Research Problem and Objectives - Design Cycle 1 24 2.2 PART 1: SEARCHING FOR A RESEARCH GAP 25 2.2.1 Overview 25 2.2.2 Background to Papers 1, 2 and 3 25 2.2.3 Integrating Security Technology into Commercially Available Smartphones 26 2.2.3.1 Preamble 26 2.2.3.2 Prior Research and Knowledge 27 2.2.3.3 Paper 1 28 2.2.3.4 Synopsis 48 2.2.4 Preventing Data Loss from Secure Portable Storage Devices 50 2.2.4.1 Preamble 50 2.2.4.2 Prior Research and Knowledge 51 2.2.4.3 Paper 2 52 2.2.4.4 Synopsis 64 2.2.5 Applicability of Existing Security Models 66 2.2.5.1 Preamble 66 2.2.5.2 Prior Research and Knowledge 66 2.2.5.3 Paper 3 67 2.2.5.4 Synopsis 81 2.2.6 Summary 81 vi 2.3 PART 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW 82 2.3.1 The Approach 82 2.3.2 Introducing the Concept of the Secure PESE 83 2.3.2.1 Preamble 83 2.3.2.2 Prior Research and Knowledge 85 2.3.2.3 Paper 4 86 2.3.2.4 Synopsis 108 2.3.2.5 Attributes of the Initial Concept 109 2.3.3 Remote Work – Categories Considered 110 2.3.4 Prior Research into Secure Remote Working 111 2.3.5 Prior Research and Development into Secure PESEs 116 2.3.5.1 Bespoke Hardware based Secure PESEs with Virtualised Secure PEE 116 2.3.5.2 USB Flash Drive based Secure PESEs with Bootable Secure PEE 121 2.3.5.3 Synopsis of Prior Research and Development into Secure PESEs 125 2.3.6 Holistic Review of Security Issues and the Secure PESE Countermeasures 125 2.3.6.1 Background 125 2.3.6.2 Consumed Knowledge 126 2.3.6.3 Location Security 127 2.3.6.4 Personnel Security 129 2.3.6.5 Insecure Use of Technology 133 2.3.6.6 Technology Vulnerabilities. 137 2.3.7 Synopsis of Analysis 139 2.4 THE RESEARCH PROBLEM 140 2.4.1 Establishing the Secure PESE Concept 140 2.4.2 Research Gap 142 2.4.3 Research Problem Definition 143 2.4.4 Research Objectives 143 2.4.5 Research Questions 144 2.5 SUMMARY 145 3 RESEARCH DESIGN 146 3.1 OVERVIEW 146 3.2 RATIONALE FOR SELECTING DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH 147 3.2.1 CHOOSING THE RESEARCH PARADIGM AND METHODOLOGY 147 3.2.2 SELECTION OF DSR 148 3.3 DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 149 3.3.1 OVERVIEW OF METHODOLOGY 149 3.3.2 DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT 152 3.4 THE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE 154 3.4.1 KNOWLEDGE CLASSES 154 3.4.2 DESIGN CYCLES 156 3.4.3 KNOWLEDGE CONSUMED 159 3.4.4 PRODUCTION OF KNOWLEDGE 160 3.5 DEMONSTRATION 161 3.6 EVALUATION 162 3.7 SUMMARY 164 4 DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT 165 4.1 OVERVIEW 165 4.1.1 Structure 165 4.1.2 The Papers 165 4.2 BASELINING THE DESIGN - DESIGN CYCLE 2 166 4.2.1 Discounting the use of Virtualisation 166 4.2.1.1 Preamble 166 4.2.1.2 Prior Research and Knowledge 167 4.2.1.3 Paper 5 168 4.2.1.4 Synopsis 189 4.2.2 Modelling the Secure PESE Concept 190 4.2.2.1 Threat Model 191 vii 4.2.2.2 Conceptual Design Model 191 4.2.2.3 Operational Model 191 DEVELOPING THE COMMERCIAL GRADE SECURE PESE – DESIGN CYCLE 3 196 4.2.3 Background 196 4.2.4 A Secure Up-loadable Hardened Application 197 4.2.4.1 Preamble 197 4.2.4.2 Prior Research