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Design proposal for keys and configuration management for encryption software
KTH, School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS).
2024 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesisAlternative title
Designförslag för nycklar och konfigurationshantering för krypteringsprogramvara (Swedish)
Abstract [en]

Encryption is an important part of computer security and privacy. Encryption software such as email encryption software and technologies, or simply file encryption, are now largely available. However, their adoption by the public remains low. Even from a company perspective, end-users still have difficulties using proper and often encryption software for exchanging confidential data. In this context of a company, wide adoption of encryption software relies on two main factors: configuration and key management. Indeed, this software needs to be properly configured to achieve the required level of security and privacy. Proper key management is also essential as users tend to struggle to deal with encryption keys properly. This project has the goal of proposing a solution to address these two aspects and will give a proposition of architecture for simplifying configuration and key management. The proposed solution presents a full architecture with four actors: a configuration server, an authorization server, an endpoint agent, and a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The configuration management is handled using authorization for reading and writing a configuration file. The agent can retrieve a configuration in the name of the user using it. Only authorized persons have access to configuration, this gives fine-grained management to administrators as they can distribute specific configurations to specific users. Authorization is also used to allow administrators to write or modify a configuration file. The key management aspect uses a PKI to generate certificates and manage different aspects of the key lifecycle. This solution tends to be classic but key generation, registration is done automatically, simplifying the user experience. This solution provides a basis for further development. The proposed implementation remains simple but highlights all the important aspects of the proposed solution. Future work should tend to improve the implementation, security testing can also be done as vectors of attacks have been identified but not tested.

Abstract [sv]

Kryptering är en viktig del av datasäkerhet och datasekretess. Krypteringsprogram är nu tillgängliga i stor utsträckning. Användningen bland allmänheten är dock fortfarande låg. Även på företag har slutanvändare svårt att använda krypteringsprogram, särskilt när de behöver hantera sina nycklar eller ställa in rätt konfiguration. För en organisation är införandet av kryptering viktigt för säkerhet och integritet. Detta projekt föreslår en lösning för att förbättra användningen av krypteringsprogramvara i en sluten miljö som en organisation. Lösningen kommer att förenkla nyckelhanteringen och konfigurationshanteringen. Lösningen har fyra aktörer: en konfigurationsserver, en auktoriseringsserver, en agent på slutpunkter och en certifikatutfärdare. Konfigurationshanteringen använder ett auktoriseringsramverk för att ge finkorniga tillstånd för åtkomst/ändring av en konfiguration. Nyckelhanteringen sker med en infrastruktur för offentliga nycklar för att generera certifikat och hantera alla aspekter av en nyckels livscykel. Lösningen försöker automatisera komplicerade åtgärder för att underlätta för allmänheten. Projektet ger också ett exempel på implementering för att visa lösningens kapacitet. Framtida arbete bör inriktas på att förbättra implementeringen och utforska möjliga attackvektorer.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of Technology , 2024. , p. 59
Series
TRITA-EECS-EX ; 2024:247
Keywords [en]
Computer security, Encryption, Configuration management, Key management
Keywords [sv]
Datasäkerhet, Kryptering, Konfigurationshantering, Nyckelhantering
National Category
Computer Sciences Computer Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-350653OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-350653DiVA, id: diva2:1884557
External cooperation
Prim’X Technologies
Subject / course
Computer Science
Educational program
Master of Science in Engineering - Computer Science and Technology
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2024-09-25 Created: 2024-07-17 Last updated: 2024-09-25Bibliographically approved

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