Re: Encryption control of SNDU

[Haitham Cruickshank <H.Cruickshank@eim.surrey.ac.uk>]

Hi Alain and All,

I like to add my voice to Alain's, regarding keeping ULE simple and free from
security complications.  Also using IPSEC mean closer integration with
terrestrial IP networks.

However, Bernhard mentioned a good point: "I do see reasons for scrambling e.g.
for the case to prevent from traffic analysis".  I think this problem can be
solved using IPSEC between satellite nodes (before ULE encapsulation) in two
ways:

1. Using IPSEC ESP in transparent mode.  This means the IP header is sent in the
clear and IP payload is encrypted.  This solution is efficient but might not
prevent traffic analysis using IP addresses.
2. Using IPSEC ESP in tunnel mode.  This means IP header and payload are
encrypted.  This solution is better against traffic analysis, but there is the
extra overhead of IPSEC tunnelling.

Regards.
Haitham

alain.ritoux@6wind.com wrote:

> Tarif.Zein-Alabedeen@space.alcatel.fr wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi every body
> >
> > The current ULE draft does not address the issue of SNDU encryption which
> > we think is important.
> > In fact, a requirement has been identified in IP/MPE/MPEG to allow, when
> > necessary, data encryption at MPE level. Some IP/MPE/MPEG products already
> > implement this capability (e.g. Alcatel 9780)
> > Encryption is controlled using the 'payload scrambling control' field (2
> > bits) in the MPE header.
>
> I fail to see why we would need an L2 encryption to carry IP/IPv6
> traffic, when IPsec/IKE is already defined including encryption,
> authentication, key distribution and all that kind of stuff.
> Would it not be re-inventing the (rather complex) wheel ?
>
> Regards.
> Alain.
> --
> Alain RITOUX
> Tel +33-1-39-30-92-32
> Fax +33-1-39-30-92-11
> visit our web http://www.6wind.com

--
Dr. Haitham S. Cruickshank

Senior Research Fellow
Communications Centre for Communication Systems Research (CCSR)
School of Electronics, Computing and Mathematics
University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7XH, UK

Tel: +44 1483 686007 (indirect 689844)
Fax: +44 1483 686011
e-mail: H.Cruickshank@surrey.ac.uk
http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/H.Cruickshank/