Building a Trusted Path for Applications Using COTS Components ABSTRACT.pdf

IST-041/RSY-013 PAPER NBR - 1 Building a Trusted Path for Applications Using COTS Components Hanno Langweg Norwegian Information Security Laboratory – NISlab1 Department of Computer Science and Media Technology, Gj?vik University College P.O. Box 191, 2802 Gj?vik , Norway hanno.langweg@hig.no ABSTRACT Client computers are often a weak link in a technical network infrastructure. Increasing the security of client systems and applications against malicious software attacks increases the security of the network as a whole. Our work solves in tegrity and authenticity of input, confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of output. We present components to integrate a trusted path into an application to directly communicate with a user at a personal computer. This allows security sensitive parts of applications to continue operating while being attacked with malicious software in an event-driven system. Our approach uses widely employed COTS software – DirectX – and can be varied in design and implementation, hence making it more difficult to defeat with generic attack tools. 1.0 INTRODUCTION Client computers are often a weak link in a technical network infrastructure. Confidentiality and integrity of connections between nodes in a network can be secured employing strong cryptography. However, this does not help against attacks by malicious software. Trojan horse programs, i.e., programs with additional hidden, often malicious, functions, are more and more popular forms of attack. These assail the endpoints of secured transactions. A vulnerable interface is the interaction of an application with the physically present user. Examples for a direct user interaction are the creation of electronic signatures, online voting, financial transaction processing, communication software etc. The concept for this is not new and is called a trusted path. A trusted path exists between the physically present user and the operating system, e.g., when invo