Assume, I have two choices.
Use self-signed x.509 certificate on both the server and client and validate server using its certificate stored in client and authenticate client using client certificate stored in server.
Create only keys on both the server and client and validate server using server key stored in the client and authenticate client using client key stored in the server.
Assume we will use RSA with key length of 2048.
My query is what will be the performance difference. My worry is overhead involved in taking key out of certificate and doing channel encryption.
Our case is there will more number of requests and not much data to flow.
Let me know if you have any queries or concerns.
SSL and SSH they are all have the same functionality, which is Encryption. Both are Cryptographic Network protocols.
SSL:
port: 443
Application : Encryption between browser and server
SSH :
port : 22
Application : Between two Computers
This is the picture of Version Control system which has got SSH key to communicate between user and their repository!
Know how to generate SSH key Here!!
Know how to Generate SSL key Here!!
Credits :Medium
Related
Hope everyone is doing well,
I have one new request from the client.
We sends files from our server to one FTP server.
But now client want to use new credential and private ssh key for that FTP server and he shared the same with us.
We have opened the new port also, but I am unable to login into FTP server. Did I need to do something to login or is their different ways to login for the same.
Regards,
Mustafa
FTP can use SSL, which supports client authentication using X.509 certificates. However, while many FTP servers support FTPS, I don't know of any which support client certificates. (In addition, client authentication is complicated in SSL – in many cases, you would have to create and maintain your own certificate authority and stuff. Not many clients support this kind of authentication, either.)
Much easier is to use SFTP, the SSH file transfer protocol. It uses exactly the same keys as "normal" SSH would. On Windows, WinSCP and FileZilla support SFTP.
I am new to digital certificates and it's various types and applications. What I know/assume as of now is in https communication, a CA will issue a certificate which will basically contain a public-private key pair which the Server and Client will use to communicate securely. And authentication will be through conventional password like mechanisms. Please correct me.
Now in the context of device certificates, does it serve the purpose of authentication only, if yes, then how? or it also serves the purpose of secure communication by means of public-private keys. How it is used.
How does a server determine the authenticity of device?
And in https there is only one certificate that a Server/Host and it's Clients will have, whereas, in device based it's issued per device. Am I right?
Thanks
Is there any way to allow only https, instead of http, for the communication with the Neo4j server? Also, which channel does the Neo4j Shell's communication use, http or https?
This is from Neo4j Documentation:
HTTPS support
The Neo4j server includes built in support for SSL encrypted communication over HTTPS. The first time the server starts, it automatically generates a self-signed SSL certificate and a private key. Because the certificate is self signed, it is not safe to rely on for production use, instead, you should provide your own key and certificate for the server to use.
To provide your own key and certificate, replace the generated key and certificate, or change the neo4j-server.properties file to set the location of your certificate and key:
# Certificate location (auto generated if the file does not exist)
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.cert.location=ssl/snakeoil.cert
# Private key location (auto generated if the file does not exist)
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.key.location=ssl/snakeoil.key
Note that the key should be unencrypted. Make sure you set correct permissions on the private key, so that only the Neo4j server user can read/write it.
Neo4j also supports chained SSL certificates. This requires to have all certificates in PEM format combined in one file and the private key needs to be in DER format.
You can set what port the HTTPS connector should bind to in the same configuration file, as well as turn HTTPS off:
# Turn https-support on/off
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.enabled=true
# https port (for all data, administrative, and UI access)
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.port=443
From http://docs.neo4j.org/chunked/stable/security-server.html:
HTTPS support
The Neo4j server includes built in support for SSL encrypted communication over HTTPS. The first time the server starts, it automatically generates a self-signed SSL certificate and a private key. Because the certificate is self signed, it is not safe to rely on for production use, instead, you should provide your own key and certificate for the server to use.
To provide your own key and certificate, replace the generated key and certificate, or change the neo4j-server.properties file to set the location of your certificate and key:
# Certificate location (auto generated if the file does not exist)
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.cert.location=ssl/snakeoil.cert
# Private key location (auto generated if the file does not exist)
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.key.location=ssl/snakeoil.key
Note that the key should be unencrypted. Make sure you set correct permissions on the private key, so that only the Neo4j server user can read/write it.
Neo4j also supports chained SSL certificates. This requires to have all certificates in PEM format combined in one file and the private key needs to be in DER format.
You can set what port the HTTPS connector should bind to in the same configuration file, as well as turn HTTPS off:
# Turn https-support on/off
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.enabled=true
# https port (for all data, administrative, and UI access)
org.neo4j.server.webserver.https.port=443
About your second question: which channel does the Neo4j Shell's communication use, http or https? The default channel is http.
I have another question to security in the web world.
So I read (and ask :P) about certificates and think I got what it is and how it works. My next question is putty specific. When I open a connection with putty to a new server with ssh (port: 22) I get a PuTTY Security Alert:
The server's host key is not chacked in the registry. You have to guarantee that the server is the computer you think it is.
The server's xxxx key fingerprint is:
yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
If you trust this host, hit Yes... etc.
Now I am wondering what a key fingerprint means.
Is that just a certificate which putty hasn't in is cache yet?
thanks.
SCBoy
Those are the first bytes of the server certificate public key. The idea is that the key is a random number, so the first bytes are random too and therefore knowing that those first bytes are the same for two keys would likely mean that the keys are actually the same.
You can use this to validate the server. You could for example call the administrator of that server and ask him for the fingerprint of the key to validate that it's indeed the key of that server, not some man-in-the-middle server belonging to a malicious party.
I am planning to implement a small standalone program that will make a https request to a server. Does that require a valid ssl certificate in the client? How does the SSL handshake work in that case? Are there any security issues in the client not have an SSL certificate?
Apart from encrypting the network traffic, HTTPS is normally used to authenticate the server. That is, to give clients reassuring information about who owns the server, etc. For that to work, the client needs to inspect the trust chain in the certificate published by the server. For that to happen automatically, the client machine should have a certificate installed that describes a Certification Authority that issued the server's certificate. Normally such certificates are found on your machine in a store called "Trusted Root Certification Authorities" and most OS come with a set of common CAs already installed.
In addition, many web servers offer a feature where the client can authenticate itself to the server by supplying a client certificate. The web server is able to inspect the certificate coming from the client and map it onto a set of permissions on the server. This "client authentication" is not necessary for a working HTTPS session however, it's just an option.
In short, you don't actually need any certificate on the client, but you will probably want to have a root CA certificate in order to validate the server's identity. If you don't have that certificate it will be impossible for you to trust the server (unless you have another good reason to do so), but you might choose to exchange data with it anyway.
If you wish to learn more about the HTTPS handshake and what is negotiated, i fully recommend you look at this excellent write up at moserware
http://www.moserware.com/2009/06/first-few-milliseconds-of-https.html
A client certificate is required only if the server requires one. A client certificate allows the server to authenticate the client, but this is only useful if the server has a list of all authorized clients. That's generally not the case with a web server, so it's quite rare for them to require client certificates.
When present, the client-side certificate does not affect establishment of the secure channel. (Only the server's certificate is required for that and adding a client certificate into the mix doesn't change the process.) Once a secure channel is established, the server will use the client's certificate the authenticate the client (generally by comparing the client's public key or name with a list of authorized clients).
You dont need a certificate to make a HTTPS connection, but you do need to if you want to know with whom you are communicating.