Java Glossary : security

Java definitions: 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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Java has features to prevent Applets downloaded off the web from doing any deliberate damage. It also has features to prevent ordinary applications from inadvertently doing damage. One other aspect of security are digital signatures so that you can ensure an Applet came unmodified from a reputable source.

There are many digital signing and encryption protocols. Here is a summary based on a table on page 218 of Web Security & Commerce.

Web Security & Commerce

1-56592-269-7

Simson Garfinkle and Gene Spafford

System	What is it?	Algorithms	Provides
DNSSEC	Secure Domain Name System	RSA, MD5	Authentication, integrity
IPsec and IPv6	Low-level protocol for encrypting IP packets	Diffie-Hellman and others	Confidentiality (optional), authentication, integrity
JCE	Java Cryptographic Extension API from Sun	RSA (signature and encryption), RC2, RC5, SHA-0, SHA-1, MD5, DES, ECB, CBC, IDEA, Blowfish, Twofish.	Allows Java to encrypt and sign files
Kerberos	Network security service for securing higher-level applications	DES	Email passwords, Telnet logins, Confidentiality, authentication
PCT	Protocol for encrypting TCP, IP transmissions.	RSA, MDS, RCZ, RC4, and others	Confidentiality, authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation
PGP	Application program for encrypting electronic mail	IDEA, RSA, MD5	Email signing and encryption, File encryption, Confidentiality, authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation
S-HTTP	Protocol for encrypting HTTP requests and responses	RSA, DES, and others	Confidentiality, authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation; however, it's obsolete
S/MIME	Format for encrypting electronic mail	User-specified	E-mail signing and encryption, Confidentiality, authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation
SET and CyberCash	Protocols for sending secure payment instructions over the Internet	RSA, MDS, RC2	Confidentiality of credit card numbers, but nothing else; integrity of entire message; authentication of buyer and seller; nonrepudiation of transactions
SSH	Encrypted remote terminal	RSA, Diffie-Hellman, DES, Triple-DES, Blowfish, and others	Telnet encryption and login, Confidentiality, authentication
SSL v3	Protocol for encrypting TCP/IP transmissions	RSA, RCZ, RC4, MD5, and others	Website commerce, compression, Confidentiality, authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation
TLS 1	Protocol for encrypting TCP/IP transmissions	a 128-bit improvement on SSL v3. Handles all the SSL v3 protocols including RSA, RCZ, RC4 and MD5.	Opera browser, Website commerce, compression, Confidentiality, authentication, integrity, nonrepudiation
Asymmetric Key	Uses private and public keys for encryption and signing	RSA, DSA and DiffieHellman	Code signing, encryption, authentication. DSA is the Digital Signature Alorithm, not used for encryption.
Symmetric Key	Uses only secret keys for encryption.	DES, Blowfish, TripleDES	encryption, authentication. Same key used for encryption must be used for decryption.

You can test your browser for security to find out if your browser is secretly blabbing your email address to every website it visits.

Your Java security is only as good as the OS security backing it up. These two websites will probe your OS for security holes and report them back to you. www.DSLREPORTS.com (pay) and spinrite.com (free). When I ran the SpinRite report my hair stood on end about all the information NT was blabbing to the universe without my permission.

Windows NT/2000 has over 1000 known security holes. There are ways of plugging some of them. Stat is a tool for managing this giant piece of Swiss cheese.

Applets ¤ authentication ¤ authorisation ¤ Blowfish ¤ BouncyCastle ¤ capabilities ¤ certificate ¤ cryptography ¤ digital signing ¤ firewall ¤ JNI ¤ MD5 ¤ PGP ¤ sandbox ¤ SET ¤ SHA-1 ¤ signed Applets ¤ SSH ¤ SSL ¤ Sun's Java Security Tutorial ¤ X.509 v3

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