SFS-HTTP: Securing the Web with Self-Certifying URLs

The current solution to secure Web communication is SSL which relies on certificate authorities for key management, limiting the ability for individuals to independently set up secure Web sites and forcing them to trust a small number of third parties. We propose a new model for Web security— SFS-HTTP—based on SFS. While SFS uses self-certifying pathnames to separate key management from file system security, SFS-HTTP uses self-certifying URLs to separate key management from Web security. Users and Web site maintainers can define their own security models without having to rely on centralized certification authorities. We implement SFS-HTTP using the SFS libraries; users configure host authentication through the SFS agent.