Conformance Assessment of Transport Layer Security Implementations

This paper presents a framework for evaluating conformance of a protocol implementation to the Security Protocol at layer 4 (SP4) standard. SP4 is one element of the Secure Data Network System (SDNS) architecture, used to provide security services at the Transport layer of the Open System... See full abstract

This paper presents a framework for evaluating conformance of a protocol implementation to the Security Protocol at layer 4 (SP4) standard. SP4 is one element of the Secure Data Network System (SDNS) architecture, used to provide security services at the Transport layer of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model. SP4 also forms the basis of the ISO standard for the OSI Transport Layer Security Protocol (TLSP). Therefore, with few exceptions, the findings of the paper are applicable to TLSP. The paper explores the relationship between conformance assessment, interoperability assessment, and security evaluation of security protocols. The OSI conformance testing methodology and framework is reviewed, and a strategy is given for applying this methodology to SP4 implementations.
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