A uniform approach to securing Unix applications using SESAME

Abstract

Existing proposals for adding cryptographic security mechanisms to Unix have secured numerous individual applications, but none provide a comprehensive uniform approach. As a consequence an ad-hoc approach is required to fully secure a Unix environment resulting in a lack of interoperability, duplication of security services, excessive administration and maintenance, and a greater potential for vulnerabilities. SESAME is a comprehensive security architecture, compatible with Kerberos. In particular, SESAME provides single or mutual authentication using either Kerberos or public-key cryptography, confidentiality and integrity protection of data in transit, role based access control, rights delegation, multi-domain support and an auditing service. Because of SESAME's comprehensive range of security services, and because it scales well, SESAME is well suited for securing potentially all Unix applications in a uniform manner.