Network Working Group                                       M. Behringer
Internet-Draft                                               M. Pritikin
Intended status: Informational                              S. Bjarnason
Expires: July 19, 2014                                             Cisco
                                                        January 15, 2014


                 Making The Internet Secure By Default
                   draft-behringer-default-secure-00

Abstract

   Pervasive monitoring on the Internet is enabled by the lack of
   general, fundamental security.  In his presentation at the 88th IETF
   Bruce Schneier called for ubiquitous use of security technologies to
   make pervasive monitoring too expensive and thus impractical.
   However, today security is too operationally expensive, and thus only
   used where strictly required.

   In this position paper we argue that all network transactions can be
   secure by default, with minimal or no operator involvement.  This
   requires an autonomic approach where all devices in a domain enrol
   automatically in a trust domain.  Once they share a common trust
   anchor they can secure communications between themselves, following a
   domain policy which is by default secure.

   The focus of this proposal is the network itself, with all protocols
   between network elements, including control plane protocols (e.g.,
   routing protocols) and management plane protocols (e.g., SSH,
   netconf, etc).  The proposal is evolutionary and allows a smooth
   migration from today's Internet technology, device by device.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
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   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
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   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on July 19, 2014.



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Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Autonomic Security  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.1.  Overview Of The Proposed Solution . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     2.2.  Zero-Touch Bootstrapping Domain Certificates  . . . . . .   4
     2.3.  Bootstrapping Key Material  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.4.  Backward Compatibility  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.5.  Policy  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.6.  Inter-Domain Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   3.  Future Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   6
   4.  Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   5.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   7
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8

1.  Problem Statement

   The reason that security mechanisms and protocols are not used today
   is not that they are not available: There are plenty of secure
   protocols available.  Reasons why they are not used are typically:

   o  Lack of operational experience with the secure protocols.

   o  Complexity of the set-up of security mechanisms, including key
      management.

   o  Ongoing operational cost for key management, trouble-shooting,
      etc.

   All of these reasons are operational reasons.  The net result is that
   enabling security on the network today is expensive, and therefore
   only done when the expense can be justified.  Many network operators
   have tight budgets and will therefore avoid unnecessary operational



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   expenses.  Many security measures which are in theory available don't
   get deployed because of the operational cost involved.

2.  Autonomic Security

   The fundamental idea in this paper is to make security a default
   behavior of a given network, and by extension the Internet as a
   whole.  This is enabled by autonomic concepts
   [I-D.behringer-autonomic-network-framework],
   [I-D.irtf-nmrg-autonomic-network-definitions]: Network devices
   negotiate all required information, including security policies and
   key materials, without the need of administrator intervention.  In an
   autonomic network, the default behavior is to secure every protocol.
   A policy can define deviations from this rule if required.  The
   approach is backwards compatible, and allows for a smooth, device by
   device upgrade.  If in a negotiation it turns out that a peer element
   is not autonomic, it simply keeps using existing mechanisms.  Policy
   controls this process to avoid downgrade attacks.

   Negotiation of security parameters and keying material is available
   today in many protocols, for example the IPsec protocol suite, or
   TLS.  However all such protocols act independently, and need to be
   set up and maintained independently.  In a network that runs
   internally iBGP, OSPF, BFD and PIM for example, each protocol
   security needs to be set up independently.  Here we propose a generic
   approach, where a node-level domain identity can be used to negotiate
   parameters for any other protocol.  We also demonstrate how this
   node-level domain identity can be bootstrapped automatically.

2.1.  Overview Of The Proposed Solution

   The proposed solution requires some generic autonomic behavior on
   nodes.  "Autonomic" is generally described as "self-management",
   which contains other "self-*" properties [Kephart].  Fundamentally,
   an autonomic node acts slightly differently from a traditional node:

   o  It discovers other nodes, and their identities.

   o  It negotiates capabilities and parameters with other nodes or
      groups of nodes.

   o  When another node belongs to the same domain (or a trusted one),
      and has the required capabilities, keys are negotiated
      automatically, and the required security protocol or mechanism is
      enabled automatically.

   o  A high-level policy, called "intent" can be used to define the
      default behavior of the network.



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   As mentioned above, all those properties exist today inside specific
   protocols, but each protocol has to be configured manually, and the
   key material has to be managed independently for each.  Autonomic
   Networking makes those properties available on a generic basis, to
   all processes running on a node.  This way, the key management
   problem is solved a single time for all protocols, in an automatic
   fashion.  Security mechanisms along with their parameters and key
   materials can be bootstrapped completely automatically.

   With an autonomic approach on network elements, security can
   therefore be made "automatic", with little to no administrative
   intervention.  This allows networks to run in a default secure mode
   for all protocols, at little or no additional operational
   expenditure.

2.2.  Zero-Touch Bootstrapping Domain Certificates

   The underlying security principle for Autonomic Networking is the
   concept of a domain identity.  A network operator manages and
   controls all devices of a domain.  A device belonging to a domain by
   default trusts only devices belonging to the same domain.  Each
   device in the domain receives a domain certificate, which can be
   cryptographically validated by other devices.

   The distribution of domain certificates can be completely automated,
   in a secure way.  The document "Bootstrapping Key Infrastructures"
   [I-D.pritikin-bootstrapping-keyinfrastructures] describes how domain
   certificates can be securely bootstrapped in a zero-touch way, and is
   the technical foundation behind this position paper.  A practical
   example on how a user in a homenet can use this mechanism is outlined
   in the document "Bootstrapping Trust on a Homenet"
   [I-D.behringer-homenet-trust-bootstrap].

   This allows the network operator to add devices to the domain based
   on existing device credentials (e.g. IEEE 802.1AR vendor certificate)
   or other any other criteria (location, time).  In addition, the new
   device has the possibility to validate the authenticity of the domain
   that it is being invited to, by requiring the invite to be signed by
   the manufacturer.

   After a device has joined the domain, it can now communicate with any
   other device in the domain and use the domain certificate as trust
   anchor for any subsequent operations.








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2.3.  Bootstrapping Key Material

   When an autonomic device wants to communicate or exchange information
   with another autonomic device, it establishes and validates the
   identity of the peer.  A device belonging to the same domain is
   trusted by default; a policy can restrict for which operations the
   trust is valid.  When the identity has been confirmed, the devices
   negotiate key material and parameters for all subsequent protocols.

   For example, the domain certificate introduced here helps in case of
   routing protocols to negotiate a common key to be used for routing
   protocol authentication as explained in
   [I-D.polk-saag-rtg-auth-keytable] and draft-ietf-karp-ops-model
   [I-D.ietf-karp-ops-model].  The actual key negotiation is outside
   scope of this document.

2.4.  Backward Compatibility

   The approach described in this paper is evolutionary and allows for a
   smooth migration.  The enabling feature for this is the intrinsic
   negotiation capability of an autonomic network.  As part of the BGP
   example above, a node will initially negotiate capabilities with the
   peer(s).  If the peer does not respond to the negotiation, we assume
   it does not understand autonomic behavior, and fall back to
   traditional, configured methods.  If it does respond to negotiation,
   the required parameters are negotiated and enabled automatically.
   This way, a network can be migrated node by node.  To detect and
   possibly avoid downgrade attacks autonomic nodes log and notify such
   events; once a negotiation with a node has happened, no downgrade is
   allowed any more.

2.5.  Policy

   With the approach described here, nodes become intelligent enough to
   negotiate the optimum security between themselves.  This way,
   security can be bootstrapped without any involvement of an admin or
   configuration tool.  However, different networks have different
   requirements.  For example, link encryption could be established
   automatically using this approach.  However, what should a node do
   when for some reason the negotiation of crypto parameters fails?
   Should it allow the connection unsecured, or should it drop it?
   Also, in some environments, integrity protection for network
   protocols is desired, in others all protocols should be encrypted.

   These are policy questions.  One network may want to only do
   integrity protection, another one also encrypt; on might pursue a
   "fail-open", another one a "fail-close" policy: When the security
   operation fails, the communication is allowed in clear, or not



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   allowed.  In an autonomic network there is a high level policy called
   "intent" which defines such default behavior.  This policy may also
   define how to handle connections to other domains.

2.6.  Inter-Domain Security

   The security in an autonomic network is primarily based on the domain
   certificates.  This way, devices within a domain can authenticate
   each other, using the same domain trust anchor.  Sub-domains can be
   used to segment a larger network and introduce different policies.

   The same concept can be applied toward other domains, but using a
   common trust anchor, or by cross-signing.  A service provider for
   example could validate the trust anchors of his peer providers once,
   so that his nodes can also authenticate the nodes of the peers.
   While such SP-to-SP approaches have failed in the past to reach any
   significant deployment, here this interaction only has to happen on
   the root certificate level once for the duration of the certificate
   lifetime.  This may be an acceptable burden.  Common trust anchors
   between all SPs are technically possible, but such approaches have
   failed in the past, and are not further considered here.

   Once nodes of another domain are authenticated, the policy in the
   domain can define their authorization levels.  This allows us to
   define for example a policy like "trust all nodes from SPx for secure
   eBGP connections".  At first, the main BGP configuration can be
   manual, with only the security being negotiated; at later stages
   additional aspects of BGP and other protocols can be automated as
   well.

3.  Future Work

   This paper illustrates the first step only in a long journey.  The
   main focus at this moment are network nodes, however, we believe that
   the concepts of autonomic networking can be applied to end systems
   and applications as well.  This is for future study.

   At the moment, trust within the domain is coarse grained, and only
   allows for sub-domains.  More fine-grained control inside a domain,
   as well as inter-domain trust management requires more work.

   To enable self-management, many components are required in a
   standardized way, such as negotiation capabilities, a message bus,
   and discovery mechanisms.  Discussions have started in the IRTF on
   definitions and goals of autonomic networking.  Many details still
   need to be worked out, although it is expected that many available
   components can be re-used in the framework of Autonomic Networking.




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4.  Summary

   Today, networks depend on detailed configuration, either from humans,
   network management systems, or controllers.  Configuration of
   security is always explicit, requiring serious efforts primarily in
   the operational management.  The fundamental weakness today is that
   there is no universal, secure node identity, so that all components
   today have to bootstrap their own security model.

   We believe that a node-level secure domain identity in the form of a
   certificate, with a zero-touch yet secure bootstrap mechanism is the
   fundamental cornerstone to making security a default on networks.
   This approach is incremental and allows network elements to
   automatically negotiate security with their peers.  The model can be
   extended inter-domain, allowing to also secure connections over
   multiple domains.  Following this model, networks could be secure by
   default.

5.  Informative References

   [I-D.behringer-autonomic-network-framework]
              Behringer, M., Pritikin, M., Bjarnason, S., and A. Clemm,
              "A Framework for Autonomic Networking", draft-behringer-
              autonomic-network-framework-01 (work in progress), October
              2013.

   [I-D.behringer-homenet-trust-bootstrap]
              Behringer, M., Pritikin, M., and S. Bjarnason,
              "Bootstrapping Trust on a Homenet", draft-behringer-
              homenet-trust-bootstrap-01 (work in progress), October
              2013.

   [I-D.ietf-homenet-arch]
              Chown, T., Arkko, J., Brandt, A., Troan, O., and J. Weil,
              "IPv6 Home Networking Architecture Principles", draft-
              ietf-homenet-arch-11 (work in progress), October 2013.

   [I-D.ietf-karp-ops-model]
              Hartman, S. and D. Zhang, "Operations Model for Router
              Keying", draft-ietf-karp-ops-model-10 (work in progress),
              January 2014.

   [I-D.irtf-nmrg-autonomic-network-definitions]
              Behringer, M., Pritikin, M., Bjarnason, S., Clemm, A.,
              Carpenter, B., Jiang, S., and L. Ciavaglia, "Autonomic
              Networking - Definitions and Design Goals", draft-irtf-
              nmrg-autonomic-network-definitions-00 (work in progress),
              December 2013.



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   [I-D.polk-saag-rtg-auth-keytable]
              Polk, T. and R. Housley, "Routing Authentication Using A
              Database of Long-Lived Cryptographic Keys", draft-polk-
              saag-rtg-auth-keytable-05 (work in progress), November
              2010.

   [I-D.pritikin-bootstrapping-keyinfrastructures]
              Behringer, M., Pritikin, M., and S. Bjarnason,
              "Bootstrapping Key Infrastructures", January 2014.

   [Kephart]  Kephart, J. and D. Chess, "The Vision of Autonomic
              Computing", IEEE Computer vol. 36, no. 1, pp. 41-50,
              January 2003.

Authors' Addresses

   Michael H. Behringer
   Cisco

   Email: mbehring@cisco.com


   Max Pritikin
   Cisco

   Email: pritikin@cisco.com


   Steinthor Bjarnason
   Cisco

   Email: sbjarnas@cisco.com



















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