Taming the Hacking Storm

Chapter 10Trusted Networks

Trusted networks should work end-to-end no matter what other rogue entity is in between the source and destination. This chapter covers different types of trusted networks and how they will be evaluated and used in a high-trust Internet ecosystem.

What Does Trusted Network Mean?

You could have all the trusted devices, OS, applications, and verified identities to create and communicate with others, but if the network channel you are communicating over is compromised, it can lead to malicious manipulation of the communicated data.

The simplest traditional example is two users, Alice and Bob, communicating with each other, sending data back and forth. But suppose Eve, the eavesdropper, is able to insert herself between Alice and Bob (i.e., an adversary-in-the-middle [AitM] attack). Alice thinks she is communicating with Bob, but she is really communicating with Eve. Bob thinks he’s communicating directly with Alice, but he’s really communicating with Eve. Eve is able to see everything that Alice and Bob are sending each other, and Eve can simply review the data and re-transmit it to the other side or maliciously manipulate the data.

For example, suppose Alice asks Bob, “Should we bomb the target tonight?” Bob gets this question and replies, “No, we have important assets visiting the target tonight.” But Eve intercepts Bob’s response and changes it to, “Yes.” Eve’s manipulation could have big negative consequences.

note

Network devices are sometimes ...