- All
- Transport Layer Security (TLS)
Powered by AI and the LinkedIn community
1
RSA algorithm
2
RSA in TLS handshake
3
RSA in TLS encryption
4
RSA in TLS authentication
Be the first to add your personal experience
5
RSA in TLS integrity
Transport Layer Security (TLS) is a protocol that provides secure communication over the internet. It uses encryption, authentication, and integrity mechanisms to protect the data exchanged between two parties. One of the key components of TLS is the cipher suite, which defines the algorithms and parameters used for encryption, authentication, and key exchange. In this article, we will explain how RSA encryption and decryption work in TLS cipher suites, and why they are important for security.
Top experts in this article
Selected by the community from 6 contributions. Learn more
Earn a Community Top Voice badge
Add to collaborative articles to get recognized for your expertise on your profile. Learn more
- Anudeep Reddy Senior Software Engineer at Siemens EDA, Security enthusiast
4
- Martin Wellard [Dis]Assembler of Things.
1
1 RSA algorithm
RSA is a public-key encryption algorithm, which means that it uses two different keys: a public key and a private key. The public key can be shared with anyone, while the private key must be kept secret. The public key can be used to encrypt a message, but only the private key can decrypt it. Similarly, the private key can be used to sign a message, but only the public key can verify it. RSA is based on the mathematical problem of factoring large numbers, which is very hard to solve.
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
- Martin Wellard [Dis]Assembler of Things.
- Report contribution
Thanks for letting us know! You'll no longer see this contribution
It might be useful to explain why we need public-key cryptography: it allows two parties to agree on a secret key to use for securing their future communications, without having to have a prior secret and without eavesdroppers being able to discern the key.
LikeLike
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
1
- Joey Albert
(edited)
- Report contribution
Thanks for letting us know! You'll no longer see this contribution
I would give a simple graphical representation to show the communications between the 'end points' showing where these keys reside.I would also explain that RSA means Rivest-Shamir-Adleman, (the last names of those who publicly described the algorithm in 1977). That it is one of the oldest still in use.
LikeLike
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
2 RSA in TLS handshake
The TLS handshake is the process of establishing a secure connection between two parties. It involves negotiating the cipher suite, exchanging certificates, and generating session keys. RSA can be used in two ways in the TLS handshake: as a key exchange method and as a signature method. As a key exchange method, RSA allows one party to encrypt a random value with the public key of the other party, and send it over. The other party can then decrypt it with their private key, and use it as a session key. As a signature method, RSA allows one party to sign a hash of the handshake messages with their private key, and send it over. The other party can then verify it with their public key, and confirm the identity and integrity of the sender.
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
- Anudeep Reddy Senior Software Engineer at Siemens EDA, Security enthusiast
- Report contribution
Thanks for letting us know! You'll no longer see this contribution
The use of RSA for Key exchange lacks forward secrecy. RSA uses server's public key to encrypt the session key on the client and the server then uses it's private key to decrypt and use the session key to establish a secure communication channel using symmetric key algorithm as defined in the chosen cipher suite. If the server's private key is compromised then any communication that used that key is essentially compromised. Forward secrecy is a feature that prevents this from happening by making use of temporary keys for each connection.
LikeLike
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
4
- Joey Albert
- Report contribution
Thanks for letting us know! You'll no longer see this contribution
Who is your target audience? If it is the readers who don't quite understand what encryption is and how it works, it would be helpful to expound on what is a 'cipher' and a 'hash'.
LikeLike
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
3 RSA in TLS encryption
Once the TLS handshake is completed, the parties can start exchanging data securely. The data is encrypted and decrypted with the session key, which is derived from the random value exchanged in the handshake. The session key is usually a symmetric key, which means that it is the same for both parties. The symmetric encryption algorithm used depends on the cipher suite, but it can be AES, ChaCha20, or others. RSA is not used for encrypting and decrypting the data, because it is too slow and inefficient for large amounts of data. However, RSA is still important for ensuring the security of the session key, which is the basis of the encryption.
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
- Joey Albert
- Report contribution
Thanks for letting us know! You'll no longer see this contribution
Is there a session 'time-out'? What constitutes when the session is effectively terminated or ended? Again, depending on your audience, you need to explain what the acronyms stand for. Just like in the beginning of this article (TLS - Transport Layer Security)
LikeLike
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
4 RSA in TLS authentication
Another aspect of TLS security is authentication, which means verifying the identity of the parties involved. Authentication is usually done with certificates, which are digital documents that contain information about the party, such as their name, domain, and public key. Certificates are issued by trusted authorities, called certificate authorities (CAs), which vouch for the validity and authenticity of the certificates. RSA can be used to sign and verify certificates, as well as to sign and verify the handshake messages. By using RSA signatures, the parties can prove that they own the private keys that correspond to the public keys in their certificates, and that they have not tampered with the handshake messages.
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
5 RSA in TLS integrity
The last element of TLS security is integrity, which means ensuring that the data exchanged has not been modified or corrupted by an attacker. Integrity is achieved by using a message authentication code (MAC), which is a value that depends on the data and the session key. The MAC is calculated and appended to each data record before encryption, and verified after decryption. The MAC algorithm used depends on the cipher suite, but it can be HMAC, Poly1305, or others. RSA is not used for calculating or verifying MACs, because it is not a MAC algorithm. However, RSA is still important for ensuring the integrity of the handshake messages, which are used to generate the session key, which is used to calculate and verify the MACs.
Help others by sharing more (125 characters min.)
- Joey Albert
- Report contribution
Thanks for letting us know! You'll no longer see this contribution
I still believe that all acronyms need to be defined. That will give the reader a more thorough understanding and will help the article to be more consistent througout.
LikeLike
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
+ Follow
Rate this article
We created this article with the help of AI. What do you think of it?
It’s great It’s not so great
Thanks for your feedback
Your feedback is private. Like or react to bring the conversation to your network.
Tell us more
Tell us why you didn’t like this article.
If you think something in this article goes against our Professional Community Policies, please let us know.
We appreciate you letting us know. Though we’re unable to respond directly, your feedback helps us improve this experience for everyone.
If you think this goes against our Professional Community Policies, please let us know.
More articles on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
No more previous content
- How do you measure and report the impact of TLS on your network performance and user satisfaction? 4 contributions
- How do you implement SSL/TLS encryption for your database or cloud storage? 9 contributions
- What are the main differences between the ALPN and NPN extensions for SSL?
- What are the main risks and challenges of SSL stripping and SSL downgrade attacks? 13 contributions
- What are the main differences between certificate transparency and certificate pinning? 5 contributions
- How do you support legacy or non-standard TLS cipher suites and algorithms for backward compatibility? 6 contributions
- How can you optimize the handshake and encryption process of quic protocol and TLS 1.3? 8 contributions
No more next content
More relevant reading
- Information Security What are the best encryption technologies to secure data at rest?
- Information Security How do you use cryptography and encryption to mitigate information security risks in transit and at rest?
- Information Technology What's the best way to choose encryption and authentication methods for your IT needs?
- RAID What are the security and encryption options for nested RAID arrays?