Internet and Wireless Security
This book presents an overview of current and future infrastructures for e-business including XML security mechanisms and next generation Public Key Infrastructures (PKI).
TABLE OF CONTENTS Internet and Wireless Security
Chapter 3: Using XML Security Mechanisms
A Selkirk
3.1 Introduction
Now that the security standard XML Signature has completed its standards track and XML Encryption is following close behind, the security protocols and software to use them can be created. XML Signature is a sophisticated, generic standard for creating digital signatures in an XML format, optimised for signing XML data. As there are many business formats and standards that already use XML for representing data, there is a ready market in which XML Signature can be applied. However, the major commercial use may be to secure Web services. There are already a number of proposed security service standards that aim to fill this niche. This chapter explores how new security mechanisms will be employed for new Web technologies. It contains an investigation of Web services, showing how XML is being used for the next generation of distributed architectures and eCommerce projects. The current building blocks of a public key infrastructure are analysed with an intention to see whether XML can create improvements. The new XML security standards, such as the security assertion markup language and XML Key Management Specification, show how XML Signature and XML Encryption can be used to create sophisticated new security services and protocols. This chapter aims to determine how these new mechanisms could operate with familiar protocols, such as the secure sockets layer, to create an overall security infrastructure, usable in an Internet environment.
3.2 Web Services
The latest buzzword in the computer industry is Web services, a collection of technological ideas...
Copyright BTexact TECHNOLOGIES 2002 under license agreement with Books24x7
