Fuzzy security concepts for the Internet of the future

As the Internet and the services it provides reach more and more areas of our everyday lives, security aspects like confidentiality, trust and privacy become increasingly important. Security issues have to be solved at different levels software, operating systems, networks, and user interfaces by adopting a coherent approach in both modern broadband networks and future distributed application scenarios. Despite the large amount of technologies available today aimed at solving issues like secure communication or trustworthy information access, evidence shows that many of the existing technologies have weaknesses that lead to reduced security for the system as a whole. In this article we will provide an overview of current threats faced by information systems in modern broadband networks, demonstrating that achieving the highest security level for the system as a whole will require new security concepts and new technologies for each and every system component. First, we will analyze the cryptographic foundations of most of today’s security mechanisms on the Internet. We will show how they are applied in real word applications and offer examples of security problems that are related to them. Furthermore, we will provide insight into future technologies such as quantum cryptography and demonstrate how they might be able to guarantee unprecedented levels of security in future information systems. Introduction Modern communication technologies and the Internet have reached a critical mass: There is hardly a profession or personal activity that is not related to information and communication technologies. The wide spread of the Internet and its evolution in recent times have posed unprecedented challenges in terms of security. When the ARPANET, the predecessor of the Internet we know today, was first built back in 1969, only four computers were involved in the process, and the people participating in this project knew each other very well [1]. Thus, securing the system from malicious intentions was not such a big issue. Threats to the current Internet Times have changed dramatically: Internet users have currently exceeded the 1.7 billion mark [2] and there is a growing number of people among them pursuing malicious objectives. The typical threats that today’s Internet users have to face are manifold. According to recent reports on security threats on the Internet [3][4][5], the most important ones are the following: 1 Published in the e&i journal 05/2010 (pp. 121-126)