Improved Internet Security Protocols Using Cryptographic One-Way Hash Chains" (2014)
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University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2014 Improved Internet Security Protocols Using Cryptographic One- Way Hash Chains Amerah Alabrah University of Central Florida Part of the Computer Sciences Commons, and the Engineering Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Alabrah, Amerah, "Improved Internet Security Protocols Using Cryptographic One-Way Hash Chains" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 4599. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/4599 IMPROVED INTERNET SECURITY PROTOCOLS USING CRYPTOGRAPHIC ONE-WAY HASH CHAINS by AMERAH ABDULRAHMAN ALABRAH B.S. King Saud University, 2006 M.S. Colorado State University, 2008 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2014 Major Professor: Mostafa Bassiouni © 2014 Amerah Alabrah ii ABSTRACT In this dissertation, new approaches that utilize the one-way cryptographic hash functions in designing improved network security protocols are investigated. The proposed approaches are designed to be scalable and easy to implement in modern technology. The first contribution explores session cookies with emphasis on the threat of session hijacking attacks resulting from session cookie theft or sniffing. In the proposed scheme, these cookies are replaced by easily computed authentication credentials using Lamport’s well-known one-time passwords. The basic idea in this scheme revolves around utilizing sparse caching units, where authentication credentials pertaining to cookies are stored and fetched once needed, thereby, mitigating computational overhead generally associated with one-way hash constructions. The second and third proposed schemes rely on dividing the one-way hash construction into a hierarchical two-tier construction. Each tier component is responsible for some aspect of authentication generated by using two different hash functions. By utilizing different cryptographic hash functions arranged in two tiers, the hierarchical two-tier protocol (our second contribution) gives significant performance improvement over previously proposed solutions for securing Internet cookies. Through indexing authentication credentials by their position within the hash chain in a multi-dimensional chain, the third contribution achieves improved performance. In the fourth proposed scheme, an attempt is made to apply the one-way hash construction to achieve user and broadcast authentication in wireless sensor networks. Due to iii known energy and memory constraints, the one-way hash scheme is modified to mitigate computational overhead so it can be easily applied in this particular setting. The fifth scheme tries to reap the benefits of the sparse cache-supported scheme and the hierarchical scheme. The resulting hybrid approach achieves efficient performance at the lowest cost of caching possible. In the sixth proposal, an authentication scheme tailored for the multi-server single sign- on (SSO) environment is presented. The scheme utilizes the one-way hash construction in a Merkle Hash Tree and a hash calendar to avoid impersonation and session hijacking attacks. The scheme also explores the optimal configuration of the one-way hash chain in this particular environment. All the proposed protocols are validated by extensive experimental analyses. These analyses are obtained by running simulations depicting the many scenarios envisioned. Additionally, these simulations are supported by relevant analytical models derived by mathematical formulas taking into consideration the environment under investigation. iv To My Father v ACKNOWLEDGMENT This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance of my committee, the help and support from friends and the love and encouragement of my family and loved ones. First and foremost I am truly indebted to my advisor Dr. Mostafa Bassiouni who, from the very first day he met me, has shown me how a true scholar should really be. He never spared me his guidance, his support and his encouragement. He has been and will always be my true mentor. To him, I am grateful. I am also thankful to my committee members, Dr. Sheau-Dong Lang, Dr. Cliff C. Zou and Dr. Yuanli Bai for their invaluable comments and suggestions throughout my dissertation writing process. I also would like to thank my friends and colleagues in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering who provided me with a nurturing and fruitful research environment. I am also truly grateful to have known my best friend Sana Tariq during my years in the department. We have been together through the best and worst of times, and she has shown me how a true friend really should be. I would like to thank my family for providing me with the support I needed. My mother has been keeping me up thorough this experience by her daily phone calls to cheer me up. My brothers and sister have provided me with their love, encouragement and sense of humor. I would also like to thank my soul mate and my friend, Husam Alawadh, my husband, who have never quit on believing on me and supported me take this route from the day we met. One final word of gratitude goes to someone who has always waited for this moment, a person whom I always dreamt of writing these words to, a person who saw his dream in me, but vi left before I made it in reality; my father. I am sorry I couldn’t make this earlier, but I know that you hear me. Thank you is not enough! vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................ xiii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 One-way Hashing ................................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................ 5 1.3 Contributions ........................................................................................................................................ 7 1.4 Dissertation Organization ............................................................................................................. 10 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................................................................ 12 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 12 2.2 Securing Session Cookies .............................................................................................................. 15 2.3 What Are Cookies? ........................................................................................................................... 16 2.4 Current Practices .............................................................................................................................. 17 2.5 New Direction .................................................................................................................................... 19 2.6 The One-way Hash Chain Model ................................................................................................. 21 2.7 User and Broadcast Authentication in Wireless Sensor Networks .............................. 24 2.8 Authentication in Single Sign-On Environments ................................................................. 25 2.9 Authenticating Cloud-based Toll/Traffic RFID Systems .................................................. 28 CHAPTER 3: HASH CHAIN (HACH) WITH SPARSE CACHING TECHNIQUES ................ 31 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 31 3.2 Sparse Caching: Basic Idea ............................................................................................................ 31 3.2.1 Sparse Caching with Uniform Spacing ................................................................................ 32 viii 3.2.2 Weighted Overhead Formula ................................................................................................. 34 3.2.3 Uncertainty in the Number of Transactions ..................................................................... 35 3.2.4 Sparse Caching with Non-uniform Spacing ...................................................................... 36 3.2.5 Caching with Geometric Spacing ........................................................................................... 37 3.3 Energy Consumption ....................................................................................................................... 39 3.4 Evaluation and