Safe and Secure Internet and beyond
The overarching research question is: how to establish and maintain trust in the current and future Internets? “The Internet is broken” is the title of a thought provoking interview with David Clark (1) , one of the architects of the Internet. The essence of this and many other articles is that the Internet lacks intrinsic security and privacy mechanisms. (Spear) phishing attacks, spyware, spam, hackers, and viruses are everywhere; malevolent adults pose as children in chat rooms; newspapers are full of stories about Internet thieves stealing millions of credit card numbers; identity theft is the fastest-growing crime, and far more. The end-users and their PCs are becoming increasingly vulnerable. Of course there are security protocols, of course there are privacy measures, and of course there are islands of trust, but the problem is getting worse and worse basically because the Internet by design puts the responsibility for trust and security on the end-user. By trust we mean the cause and/or effect of good behaviour.
Difficult though these problems may be, it is really only the beginning: the current “Internet of people and their PCs” is now being extended to an “Internet of Things”, where an astronomical number of mostly tiny and mobile devices will interact.
Aim and objectives
Our vision is to create Trusted Environments on the current and future Internets to enable new and better services. A Trusted Environment is a controlled part of the Internet, which is governed by specific rules. Admission to a Trusted Environment is regulated, and members can be held accountable for their actions and transactions while their privacy is protected at the same time. Our approach to create Trusted Environments on the Internet consists of developing the following four pillars:
1. Privacy enhanced Identity Management that offers users a choice in how they identify themselves and what information they release to whom.
2. Trust Management that allows users to build and gain trust even without a powerful third party and in such a way that users can still be held accountable.
3. Community Management that protects users who abide by community rules of their own making and which makes it easy to expel users who misbehave.
4. System Management supporting fixed, nomadic, and mobile access that relieves users from the headaches of today’s security management of all their devices, both small and large.
We will integrate these pillars into a framework, resulting in the end-user interacting more conveniently with the Internet, feeling more confident that identity and data are protected, and finding it more satisfying and costeffective to use the Internet. The framework allows service providers to gain more confidence in their customers and citizens because of the accountability measures and the secure transaction mechanisms it provides, both of which reduce (financial) risks. Realising our vision is not only a technology issue; we propose an integrated approach bringing together essential disciplines, including IT and security specialists, social scientists, economists, and lawyers.
State of the art At present, every internet user, individuals, businesses and governments alike, are more or less experimentally discovering how to cope with trust in the online world. In the online world there is no real digital equivalent to the passport or identity card as the standard method of establishing someone’s identity. Partly to compensate for this lack of digital credentials, organisations collect a large amount of personal data to be sure that they can address their customers and citizens when needed. Name and address, but also multiple phone numbers, email addresses and credit card data are therefore required for many, even mundane, transactions. This introduces a number of related problems, including:
1. Organisations collect and manage data that is valuable, and hence attract criminals. ID theft, often involving the appropriation of credit card data or identification numbers such as social (fiscal) numbers, is the fastest growing crime, particularly in the USA, as evidenced by a constant stream of newspaper articles. Also in Europe ID theft is a major problem: in 2005 in the UK the cost of ID theft was estimated to be £1.7 billion.
2. Users have to fill in the same data at many places. Identity management at present is organisation centred; each organisation has its own ID data silo. The user can not take her digital identity from one organisation to another in a secure and convenient way.
3. The data collected by service providers is inaccurate. The use of fake information by users is common to avoid the risk of attracting SPAM, or simply because the user does not want the service provider to have the data. This leads to severely polluted data bases.
4. The data is unverified. The old internet cartoon “on the internet no one knows you’re a dog” captures this nicely. Online identity claims are difficult to verify. Therefore, the trust provided by the personal data provided is superficial and can be manipulated.
5. Personal data is being misused and or abused. Email addresses provided in return for access to services are sometimes used for spamming. Phishing, Pharming, viruses, and spyware are devised to collect personal data that can be used for ID fraud.
The importance of identity-, trust-, community-, and system-management for increasing trust, as well as for other reasons is acknowledged by many. Many organisations try to address the issues on their own, for example focusing on their own identity management silos. This only solves part of the problems mentioned above and as more incompatible technologies emerge, this may eventually stall the growth of the economy and block social development. The growth of the Internet will therefore not be sustainable. A classic example of unsustainable growth accompanying neglect of user concerns is the stalled deployment of RFID tags.
Economic relevance
The market orientation is “think big, start small”. The four applications will bring better health and well being services, interoperable content delivery services, new grass root initiatives and enhanced e-government services. The Netherlands, with its dense Internet coverage, its cultural diversity, and its entrepreneurial population is in an excellent position to take the lead in securing the Internet. Our technology will spark new markets for universal, open security and identity management devices. The technology partners will develop the framework. Application partners will introduce advanced services. Both the technology partners and the application partners are in a strong position to introduce the results into new and existing open standards, to introduce the technology into the Dutch market first, and then to expand into Europe and beyond, thus giving the Dutch industry a boost in the growing security market.
Trusted environments will provide new ways for people to engage in social interaction, where people will feel that they are in control over their own “digital” lives, just like in real life. The test bed will enable a variety of large scale social, economic, legal and ethnographic studies into online security and trust issues in the online world. The infrastructure will empower grassroots communities to develop secure and trustworthy online environments, allowing vulnerable and insecure users to participate in the digital era.
Application areas
The framework will be implemented and tested by significant numbers of individuals and organisations in key application areas spanning both the private sector and public sector, and where trust is a key factor of success. The application areas include:
• Ambient assisted living – improving the quality of life by secure remote monitoring and treatment.
• More content than ever – ensuring interoperability of digital content rendering with redistribution policies that satisfy both producers and consumers.
• Virtual communities – empowering netizens, supporting grassroots initiatives and open content licences with self regulatory policies and instruments.
• Citizen central – harmonising identity management in the public and private sectors based on chains of trust and user control.
Dissemination of results
The intended results include (1) a small device (the Nymbus), which manages a user’s identity (including the coupling of the physical and digital identity via biometrics) and which shields her from Internet threats (privacy invasion, identity theft etc.) via peer-2-peer communication with other Nymbi. (2) A collection of innovative secure services in the application areas described above. (3) A large, nation-wide test bed will serve as a unique laboratory for the validation of the results. The test bed with the Nymbi and the services will be the start of a Safe and Secure Internet.
The intended results will include methods, techniques, tools and open standards to realise the pillars and the applications; Deployment and exploitation plans to take the test bed and Nymbus prototypes into the market; Proposals for legal instruments for security, privacy and trust to the National and European legislators; New business models; New ways of trading and exchange that support grass root initiatives; Awareness raising, educational and social involvement programmes; Strengthening the Dutch security research community represented by www.nvso.nl.
International context
The consortium forms a multidisciplinary collaboration of leading industries and internationally renowned technical and non-technical academics who have been involved for many years in research on online security and trust. The partners are world-wide suppliers of security solutions and key contributors to many relevant European and International projects and developments, such as the EU PRIME and FIDIS projects, the US led Liberty alliance, the Universal Postal Union, and international DRM and security standards.
The industrial partners of the consortium form a strong combination of multi-nationals, government and SMEs, while the academic partners are the leading security specialists from all the relevant disciplines. The consortium is unique in that it is focused, yet broader in scope than any other multidisciplinary identity management or internet security consortium world wide. We believe that this breadth is essential to deliver highly convenient and cost-effective solutions which users, businesses and government can trust, build upon and tailor to their individual needs.
Educational potential
Industry and government currently have significant difficulties hiring academics with a thorough background in ICT security. To address these needs, in September 2006, RU, TU/e and UT started the first Dutch masters program in ICT security http://www.kerckhoffs-institute.org/. We expect a few dozen students to graduate from this program each year. However, the demand for qualified Master students is greater, and there is also a significant demand for academics with a doctorate in ICT security. The expectation is that the PhDs from the present SRA will be able to satisfy a significant fraction of the marked demands.
1. D. Talbot. The Internet is broken. MIT Technology review, Dec 2005.
