Microsoft’s Active Directory Security Feature

Microsoft’s Active Directory Security Feature

Simplified user and network-resource management

Using Active Directory, you can build hierarchical information structures that make it easier for you to control administrative credentials and other security settings and that make it easier for your users to locate network resources, such as files and printers.

Flexible, secure authentication and authorization

Flexible and secure authentication and authorization services provide protection for data while minimizing barriers to doing business over the Internet. Active Directory supports multiple authentication protocols, such as the Kerberos V5 protocol, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) v3, and Transport Layer Security (TLS) using X.509 v3 certificates, and security groups that span domains efficiently.

Directory consolidation

You can organize and simplify the management of users, computers, applications, and devices, and make it easier for users to find the information they need. You can take advantage of synchronization support through Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)-based interfaces, and you can work with directory consolidation requirements specific to your applications.

Directory-enabled applications and infrastructure

Active Directory features make it easier for you to configure and manage applications and other directory-enabled network components.

Scalability without complexity

Active Directory scales to millions of objects per domain and uses indexing technology and advanced replication techniques to speed performance.

Use of Internet standards

Active Directory provides access through LDAP and uses a Domain Name System (DNS)-based namespace.



LDAP Security Feature

LDAP Security Feature

LDAP and especially OpenLDAP has a number of security features which at first (second and third) glance may be a tad daunting. Diagram below provides a perspective of the problem before diving into detail. It shows the various access methods and interfaces to an LDAP system and then describes some security issues and what methods are available to manage the risks involved. The purpose of this exercise is to determine either a set of security policies or implementation priorities.

Remote Communications : Remote communication security may or may not be an issue. If you provide unlimited (anonymous) access to non-sensitive LDAP data then the security issue is moot. Caution: In these circumstances you potentially become vulnerable to DoS/DDoS attacks through malicious LDAP query loads - so even this apparently trivial environment may need careful consideration.

Passwords : Securing passwords during communications should not be confused with securing them within configuration files or DITs. Even if you have secured all passwords within the configuration file or the DIT using a hash-method, such as {SSHA}, when a password is sent from a client to the server it is sent in the clear, hashed at the server and compared with the stored contents. Without any further action it can therefore be snooped (or sniffed depending on your predilection for these terms).

Note: When an entry containing, say, a userPassword attribute stored using, say, {CRYPT} is requested by a client it is not sent in cleartext but in its hashed (stored) form. However when access to that same entry is required the client sends the authenticating password in cleartext and clearly(!) if the login is successful the snooper can reasonably assume the cleartext password was correct!

X.500 Security Feature

X.500 Security Feature

The X.500 directory service is a global directory service. Its components cooperate to manage information about objects such as countries, organizations, people, machines, and so on in a worldwide scope. It provides the capability to look up information by name and to browse and search for information.

Security Feature

X.500 has evolved significantly, to encompass features not in the original X.500(1988) version. This has led to significant updates in the X.500 (1993) specification. Some smaller additions are also planned for X.500(1997). The major changes for X.500(1993) are:

1. Sophisticated replication using Directory Information Shadowing Protocol (DISP). Replication of data is critical for providing a robust directory service. X.500 DISP provides this service, and gives a lot of flexibility for different replication configurations.
2. Access Control. There is a standard and flexible mechanism for specifying access control. This is important to allow open and controlled management of data in the directory, especially when the data is replicated.
3. Improvements to information model. There are a number of improvements to the X.500 data model, based on experience with X.500 (1988). These include attribute subtyping, which allows related attributes to be handled in a clean manner and operational attributes, which allow directory management attributes to be distinguished from user data.
4. Administrative area model to help management. A mechanism is added whereby data can be grouped into administrative areas, and data (including access control) shared over this area by use of collective attributes. This is an important change for many operational environments.
5. A number of small changes to the overall directory service.

On the outside, the X.500(1993) directory has not changed a great deal. There has been significant change to the internal operations and management features, which address serious service and deployment issues.

 Reference:

http://docs.oracle.com/javase/jndi/tutorial/ldap/models/x500.html

GPRS Security Feature, Threats and Solution

GPRS Security Feature, Threats and Solution

General packet radio service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile (GSM). It provides moderate-speed data transfer, by using unused time division multiple access.

GPRS Security Feature

·         Identity Confidentiality

This is to provide privacy to the subscriber so it will be difficult to identify the person from thier signal over the radio and connections to the SGSN. It is also used to protect identity such as dialed digits and addresses.

·         User and signaling data confidentiality

This is derived by using function A3/8 as in GSM.

·         Authorization

It is a security service that ensures a party may only perform the actions that they are allowed to perform.

·         Availability

Data services are usable by the appropriate parties in the manner intended.

GPRS threats

Most common types of attack on availability would be denial of service attack. Below are some of the DOS attack.

·         DNS Flood

It can be flooded with either correctly or malformed DNS queries or other traffic thereby denying subscribers the ability to locate the proper GGSN to use as an external gateway.

·         DNS Cache Poisoning

An attacker to forge DNS queries or responses that cause a given user’s APN to resolve to the wrong GGSN or even none at all is possible. Sometimes it can prevent subscribers from being able to pass data at all.

·         Overbilling attacks

This is by a malicious mobile station that hijacks an IP address of another mobile station and invokes a download from a malicious server on the internet. Once the download begins, the malicious mobile station exits the session. The mobile station under attack, receiving the download traffic, gets charged for traffic it did not solicit. The same malicious party could execute this attack for the purpose of sending broadcasts of unsolicited data in the direction of subscriber cell phones. The effect is still the same, in that the subscriber is billed for  data that they did not solicited and might not have wanted.

GPRS solution

The fundamental issue with security is the lack of security inherent. Implementing IPSec between roaming partners and managing traffic rates, can eliminate a majority of the threats.

·         Overbilling Attack Prevention

Enables the firewall to of an attack. The firewall is then able to terminate the “hanging” sessions and/or tunnels, thus cutting off the unwanted traffic. As such, this prevents the GPRS subscriber from being “overbilled.”

Reference:

http://netscreen.com/solutions/literature/white_papers/200074.pdf