Abstract

Secure transport protocols often consist of three logically distinct components: transport, control (handshake), and record protection. Typically, such a protocol contains a single module that is responsible for all three functions. However, in many cases, this coupling is unnecessary. For example, while cryptographic context and endpoint capabilities need to be known before encrypted application data can be sent on a specific transport connection, there is otherwise no technical constraint that a cryptographic handshake must be performed on said connection. This document recommends a logical separation between transport, control, and record components of secure transport protocols. We compare existing protocols such as Transport Layer Security, QUIC, and IKEv2+ESP in the context of this logical separation.

Authors

Mirja Kühlewind (mirja.kuehlewind@tik.ee.ethz.ch)
Tommy Pauly (tpauly@apple.com)
Christopher Wood (cawood@apple.com)

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