Re: Use case classification, and associated security models

• From: Wan-Teh Chang <wtc@google.com>
• Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2012 16:53:55 -0700
• To: Vijay Bharadwaj <Vijay.Bharadwaj@microsoft.com>
• Cc: "public-webcrypto@w3.org" <public-webcrypto@w3.org>
• Message-ID: <CALTJjxG_LQ0gQC+62LBStiG2TjYfx7iXiJ-E1=7yWLz+jp1S-w@mail.gmail.com>

Hi Vijay,

Thank you for writing this up.

I agree that the design of the Web Cryoto API can be divided into two parts:
- key management
- the actual crypto operations that take a key object

As for the three scenarios of key management you described, the
difference between scenario 1 (Ephemeral or local-only keys) and
scenario 2 (Ephemeral keys obtained through key agreement) does not
seem important for the API design. How do you think the API should
reflect the different security models between scenario 1 and scenario
2?

To me, the important distinction is between scenarios 1 & 2 and
scenario 3. In scenarios 1 & 2, the browser knows which website
generates or imports/derives the key.  That knowledge is recorded
persistently and can be used to determine which website is authorized
to open or use a key in the future if the key is persistent.

Wan-Teh

Received on Tuesday, 12 June 2012 23:54:24 UTC