Scenario 5: Having each responsible for their own certificates and sending it the person

they wish to talk to (no directory)

In this scenario each user creates their own certificates and exchange between
themselves. After verification of the certificate a secure channel for communication is
establish. Here there is no CA (certificate authority) to verify and sign the user’s certificate.
This method is used in Pretty Good Privacy. The users taking part in the communication are
authenticated each other. For this method each user trusts the other user. We assume that each
user knows the public key of the other user to whom they are going to transmit.

A – creates his own certificate and send to B

B – verifies A’s certificate and sends his certificate to A
A – verifies B’s certificate
Then channel is established for communication.

This can be done in different ways.

Method 1: Simple Secret or Session key distribution

1. A transmits a message to B.
Message = Public key of A (PUa) + Identifier of A (IDA)
2. B transmits an encrypted message to A.
Encrypted message = Public Key of A (PUa) + Secret key (Ks)
3. A decrypts the message with his private key (PVa) and recovers Ks.
4. A and B discards the key used for sharing the secret key.
5. Secure channel is created for communication between A and B.

Message = Public key of A (PUa) + Identifier of A (IDA)

Secure channel after Secret key exchange

Encrypted Message = Public Key of A (PUa) + Secret key (Ks)

Figure ___: Simple Secret Key Distribution

 Merits: There is no key before and after communication.
Channel is free from eves dropping.
Demerits: It is not secure because, man-in-the-middle attack is possible.

Method 2: Secret Key Distribution with Confidentiality and Authentication

This method is similar to the first method with some modifications.

1. A transmits a message to B
Message = Encrypted with Public key of B (PUb) [Nonce (N1) + Identifier of A (IDA)]
Nonce – used to identify a particular transaction distinctively.
2. B transmits a message to A
Message = Encrypted with Public key of A (PUb) [Nonce (N1) + Nonce (N2)]
B attaches N2 to ensure that the message transmitted was decrypted by B only.
3. A return’s N2, with B’s public key to assure that A has received the message.

Figure ___: Public key distribution of secret keys

4. Then A send the secret key (session key) with double encryption.
a. Session key (Ks) is encrypted with A’s private key
b. Then overall message is encrypted using B’s public key.
5. B decrypts the message and retrieves the session key.
6. A secure channel for communication is established in a safe way.

Merits: Channel is free from eves dropping

Demerits: It is not secure. Man in the middle attack is still possible in this method

Pretty Good Privacy combines both conventional method and public key cryptography.

a) The message is encrypted with the session key.

b) The session key is encrypted with the public key of the receiver.
c) Both the message is combined and tansmitted to the receiver.

Figure __: Encryption

d) On the receiver side the message received is split and decrypted.

e) Encrypted session key is decrypted using the recipient’s private key.
f) With the session key the ciphered text is decrypted.

Figure __: Decryption

Bandwidth
Here the amount of bandwidth used is less compared to the other scenarios. It is because the
certificate is send to the other user.
Computation Efficiency
The computation efficiency in this scenario is slight more than the other scenarios.
Security (Vulnerability to attacks)
In this scenario the possible attacks are man in the middle attack, forgery of the certificates,
and denial of services
Flexibility
As the key management is done by each individual and no directory or third party is present,
it is more flexible compared to other scenarios’.

References:
1. http://flylib.com/books/en/3.190.1.90/1/
2. http://www.pgpi.org/doc/pgpintro/#p11
3. http://www.data-processing.hk/glossaries/pgp/