Solaris Cryptographic Services

Cryptography is the science of encrypting and decrypting data. Cryptography is used to insure integrity, privacy, and authenticity. Integrity means that the data has not been altered. Privacy means that the data is not readable by others. Authenticity for data means that what was delivered is what was sent. User authentication means that the user has supplied one or more proofs of identity. Authentication mechanisms mathematically verify the source of the data or the proof of identity. Encryption mechanisms scramble data so that the data is not readable by a casual observer. Cryptographic services provide authentication and encryption mechanisms to applications and users.

Cryptographic algorithms use hashing, chaining, and other mathematical techniques to create ciphers that are difficult to break. Authentication mechanisms require that the sender and the receiver compute an identical number from the data. Encryption mechanisms rely on the sender and the receiver sharing information about the method of encryption. This information enables only the receiver and the sender to decrypt the message. The Solaris OS provides a centralized cryptographic framework, and provides encryption mechanisms that are tied to particular applications.

• Solaris^TM Cryptographic Framework – A central framework of cryptographic services for kernel-level and user-level consumers. Uses include passwords, IPsec, and third-party applications. The cryptographic framework includes a number of software encryption modules. The framework enables you to specify which software encryption modules or hardware encryption sources an application can use. The framework is built on the PKCS #11 v2 library. This library is implemented according to the following standard: RSA Security Inc. PKCS #11 Cryptographic Token Interface (Cryptoki). The library provides an API for third-party developers to plug in the cryptographic requirements for their applications. See Chapter 13, Solaris Cryptographic Framework (Overview).

• Encryption mechanisms per application –

  • For the use of DES in Secure RPC, see Overview of Secure RPC.

  • For the use of DES, 3DES, AES, and ARCFOUR in the Kerberos service, see Chapter 21, Introduction to the Kerberos Service.

  • For the use of RSA, DSA, and ciphers such as Blowfish in Solaris Secure Shell, see Chapter 19, Using Solaris Secure Shell (Tasks).

  • For the use of cryptographic algorithms in passwords, see Changing the Password Algorithm (Task Map).

In the Solaris Express Community Edition, the Key Management Framework (KMF) provides a central utility for managing public key objects, including policy, keys, and certificates. KMF manages these objects for OpenSSL, NSS, and PKCS #11 public key technologies. See Chapter 15, Solaris Key Management Framework.