SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and/or TLS (Transport Layer Security)
53
votes
12answers
3k views
Does an established ssl connection mean a line is really secure
From the view of somebody offering a webapplication. When somebody connects with SSL (https) to our service and submits the correct authentication data, is it safe to transmit all sensitive data over ...
173
votes
3answers
45k views
How does SSL work?
How does SSL work? I just realised we don't actually have a definitive answer here, and it's something worth covering.
I'd like to see details in terms of:
A high level description of the protocol.
...
38
votes
11answers
4k views
What are the pros and cons of site wide SSL (https)?
What are the pros and cons of encrypting all HTTP traffic for the whole site through SSL, as opposed to SSL on just the login page?
19
votes
11answers
2k views
How feasible is it for a CA to be hacked? Which default trusted root certificates should I remove?
This question has been revised & clarified significantly since the original version.
If we look at each trusted certificate in my Trusted Root store, how much should I trust them?
What factors ...
148
votes
3answers
32k views
CRIME - How to beat the BEAST successor?
With the advent of CRIME, BEASTs successor, what is possible protection is available for an individual and / or system owner in order to protect themselves and their users against this new attack on ...
130
votes
9answers
8k views
How is it possible that people observing an HTTPS connection being established wouldn't know how to decrypt it?
I've often heard it said that if you're logging in to a website - a bank, GMail, whatever - via HTTPS, that the information you transmit is safe from snooping by 3rd parties. I've always been a little ...
16
votes
9answers
582 views
Does hashing a file from an unsigned website give a false sense of security?
Consider this. Many websites with software downloads also make available MD5 or SHA1 hashes, for users to verify the integrity of the downloaded files. However, few of these sites actually use HTTPS ...
31
votes
3answers
3k views
Are all SSL Certificates equal?
After running a few tests from Qualsys' SSL Labs tool, I saw that there were quite significant rating differences between a GoDaddy and VeriSign certificate that I have tested against.
Are all SSL ...
8
votes
4answers
2k views
Options when defending against SSLstrip?
I'm wondering, does anyone have any suggestions to defend against SSLstrip particularly?
11
votes
4answers
6k views
What ciphers should I use in my web server after I configure my SSL certificate?
There are many great questions that ask what is the best certificate to use for a website; but once the certificate is purchased, there is also the possibility to choose or edit the Cipher list.
...
18
votes
8answers
7k views
Can my company see what HTTPS sites I went to?
At work my company uses internet monitoring software (websense). I know if I visit a https ssl-encrypted site (such as https://secure.logmein.com) they can't see what I'm doing on the site since all ...
10
votes
1answer
1k views
Guidance for implementors of HTTPS-only sites (Server side)
The recent trend in HTTPS attacks is to attack the HTTP protocol. What should I do to increase my site's security if the only protocol I want is HTTPS?
Some easy to implement ideas are
Implement ...
13
votes
5answers
1k views
What can I do about TLS 1.0 javascript injection vulnerability on my server?
The recent article featured on slashdot http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/19/beast_exploits_paypal_ssl/ says that connections secured with TLS 1.0 are susceptible to man-in-the-middle decryption ...
15
votes
2answers
494 views
Are URLs viewed during HTTPS transactions to one or more websites from a single IP distinguishable?
For example, say the following are HTTPS URLs to two websites by one IP over 5 mins:
"A.com/1", "A.com/2", "A.com/3", "B.com/1", "B.com/2".
Would monitoring of packets reveal:
nothing,
reveal only ...
10
votes
7answers
785 views
Can a HTTPS connection be compromised because of a rogue DNS server
If I'm visiting (just a desktop pc, client side) a site that has a valid HTTPS cert/connection, that can it be compromised if I'm using [not with free will, so e.g.: I'm "attacked"] a rouge DNS ...
4
votes
2answers
564 views
What are the advantages of EV Certificate?
What are the various advantages of using extended validation (EV) certificates than normal certificates which also provide comparatively high degree of encryption like RC4, 128 Bit?
I know that the ...
2
votes
2answers
3k views
How commonly are SSL/TLS or S/MIME used by e-mail providers?
I was reading through different posts here about email security. After reading these I still have some questions.
I understand that S/MIME can be used to transfer email securely between servers.
...
34
votes
7answers
9k views
Is BASIC-Auth secure if done over HTTPS?
I'm making a REST-API and it's straight forward to do BASIC auth login. Then let HTTPS secure the connection so the password is protected when the api is used.
Can this be considered secure?
21
votes
3answers
624 views
What is an SSL certificate intended to prove, and how does it do it?
If I get an SSL certificate from a well-known provider, what does that prove about my site and how?
Here's what I know:
Assume Alice and Bob both have public and private keys
If Alice encrypts ...
10
votes
1answer
2k views
My understanding of how HTTPS works (gmail for example)
I want to ask if my below understanding is correct or not regarding the HTTPS used for the webpage we are visiting.
I will use Gmail as an example:
My laptop tries to connect to the Gmail server ...
18
votes
3answers
8k views
What steps do Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail take to prevent eavesdropping on email?
I would like to ask what happens when an email is sent from gmail, yahoo or hotmail public web email services?
I don't understand email protocols in details, but as far as I know email traffic is ...
11
votes
2answers
2k views
symmetric encryption session keys in SSL/TLS
This question concerns the session send and receive keys used in SSL/TLS protocol. my understanding is that this key uses symmetric encryption (DES, AES, BlowFish, etc.) I'm wondering, if ...
15
votes
4answers
573 views
What is the potential impact of these SSL certificate validation vulnerabilities?
I just finished reading through this paper by Georgiev et al, which demonstrates a wide range of serious security flaws in SSL certificate validation in various non-browser software, libraries and ...
25
votes
9answers
4k views
Is visiting HTTPS websites on a public hotspot secure?
It's often said that HTTPS SSL/TLS connections are encrypted and said to be secure because the communication between the server and me is encrypted (also provides server authentication) so if someone ...
11
votes
7answers
9k views
What is the difference in security between a VPN- and a SSL-connection?
I would like to design a client-server application where the server is placed on Internet. I assume that I could set up the client-server connection using VPN (is it using IPSec?) or using a SSL ...
10
votes
3answers
6k views
Understanding 2048 bit SSL and 256 bit encryption
On DigiCert's page, they advertise a 2048 bit SSL with a 256 bit encryption: http://www.digicert.com/256-bit-ssl-certificates.htm
What exactly is the difference here and why are two encryption bits ...
7
votes
4answers
1k views
Can Javascript/Flash verify the SSL connection to prevent “SSL Inspection”?
I'd like to determine if an SSL webpage is being debugged through Fiddler, or if it's going through an SSL Proxy.
So some people may ask
What is the point of re-validating SSL using javascript?
...
43
votes
3answers
16k views
What's the difference between SSL, TLS, and HTTPS?
I get confused with the terms in this area. What is SSL, TLS, and HTTPS? What are the differences between them?
22
votes
2answers
3k views
I just send username and password over https. Is this ok?
When a user's logging in to my site, they send their username and password to me over https. Besides the ssl, there's no special obfuscation of the password - it lives in memory in the browser in the ...
23
votes
5answers
1k views
Why is HTTPS not the default protocol?
Why is HTTP still commonly used, instead what I would believe much more secure HTTPS?
13
votes
3answers
4k views
Is there a way to mitigate BEAST without disabling AES completely?
It seems that the easiest way to protect users against the BEAST attack on TLS <= 1.0 is to prefer RC4 or even disable all other (CBC) cipher suites altogether, e.g. by specifying something like
...
21
votes
3answers
2k views
How does Convergence (CA replacement) prevent its notaries from being MITM'd as well?
I have been looking into Convergence and how it works, but I cant figure out how it is effective against a MITM attack that happens near the target system. My understanding is that Convergence works ...
10
votes
3answers
4k views
Is the Facebook login form using SSL without https in the URL?
If I go to http://facebook.com, I am not redirected to https://www.facebook.com. If it doesn't have https in the URL, can the login be secure? Usually I am redirected to an https page on other sites? ...
8
votes
4answers
388 views
Can real end-to-end SSL encryption be made?
I've read the various questions tagged [ssl] and [mitm] and [proxy] and I couldn't find a duplicate.
I've got a very precise question but first I need to give some background.
Basically I'm very ...
23
votes
9answers
1k views
Is there any technical security reason not to buy the cheapest SSL certificate you can find?
While shopping for a basic SSL cert for my blog, I found that many of the more well known Certificat Authorities have an entry-level certificate (with less stringent validation of the purchaser's ...
12
votes
3answers
465 views
How secure is aSSL (javascript)? Does it effectively mimic SSL?
Some of you may be familiar with the aSSL project, which uses AJAX/PHP to mimic the SSL protocol. It uses RSA 512 or 1024 for the keys, and AES for the actual data. It looks impressive to me in ...
11
votes
3answers
709 views
What are the risks of a Certificate Authority hack for 'the average user'?
Recently the DigiNotar CA was hacked, and rogue certificates were issued. Since they also issue certificates on behalf of the Dutch government, the government made a statement about it as well, ...
4
votes
4answers
376 views
How secure is SSL?
Is it not true that SSL can be decrypted by simply having listened to the network activity of a PC on a network? (for example, from the first time a random PC connects to a coffee shop, and keep ...
12
votes
3answers
9k views
How to test for the BEAST attack if server isn't Internet-connected?
I'd like to test a server specifically for vulnerabilities related to BEAST. What command line switches should I use?
What should I see (or not see) in the output?
Update
The intent is to scan a ...
4
votes
2answers
214 views
Extensions for SSL server certificate
I have some question about the X.509 v3 extensions. What extensions should appear in a proper certificate for a SSL server ?
7
votes
3answers
357 views
Is a mobile app more secure for mobile use than the “normal” website?
An untrained end user who uses a mobile web browser is vulnerable to phishing and can't easily verify the the authenticity (or security) of a website among other issues. Also, it is very easy to ...
2
votes
3answers
188 views
Without SSL, what vantage point does one need to MITM non-SSL'd HTTP?
OK, so there are two things here: being able to read the content of the requests and responses, and then being able to modify them. The former may depend on the latter, I'm not sure.
But basically, ...
83
votes
8answers
4k views
Attacking an office printer?
I did an nmap scan on an advanced office printer that has a domain name and is accessible from outside the corporate network. Surprisingly I found many open ports like http:80, https:443, and ...
28
votes
4answers
14k views
What is the difference between an x.509 “client certificate” and a normal SSL certificate?
I am setting up a web service through which my company will talk to a number of business customers' services. We will be exchanging information using SOAP. I would like to handle authentication with ...
9
votes
3answers
9k views
How to fix SSL 2.0 and BEAST on IIS
As you can see on this post TeamMentor.net vulnerable to BEAST and SSL 2.0, now what? the app I'm currently development got flagged for SSL 2.0 and BEAST by SSL Labs.
I'm using IIS 7.0 with the ...
7
votes
5answers
2k views
Does HTTPS Everywhere defend me against sslsniff-like attacks?
http://www.thoughtcrime.org/software/sslsniff/
If I have a domain on my HTTPS Everywhere list, so that theoretically it could be only visited via an HTTPS connection in my Firefox, then could an ...
10
votes
1answer
489 views
Is Nokia's “institutional MITM” of SSL traffic vulnerable to CRIME attack?
It's recently been in the news that some Nokia phones proxy all traffic, including SSL connections, through a Nokia proxy. This is effectively an "institutional MITM" attack on users those phones.
...
21
votes
8answers
2k views
Is anybody using client browser certificates?
Client browser certificates seem to be a nice way to protect sites from intruders - it is impossible to guess and should be harder to steal. Of course, they do not solve all the problems, but they add ...
20
votes
7answers
2k views
Does it matter which Certificate Authority I source my SSL Certificate from?
To secure my web site with HTTPS, does it matter which company I source my SSL certificate from, or just that the browser recognizes it?
From the Area51 proposal.
15
votes
1answer
548 views
TLS: RC4 or not RC4?
I was reading another interesting article by Matthew Green today, saying that
if you're using RC4 as your primary ciphersuite in SSL/TLS, now would be a great time to stop
As far as I'm aware ...
