Optimizing secure communication standards for disadvantaged networks

Abstract

We present methods for optimizing standardized cryptographic message protocols for use on disadvantaged network links. We first provide an assessment of current secure communication message packing standards and their relevance to disadvantaged networks. Then we offer methods to reduce message overhead in packing Cryptographic Message Syntax (CMS) structures by using ZLIB compression and using a Lite version of CMS. Finally, we offer a few extensions to the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) to wrap secure group messages for chat on disadvantaged networks and to reduce XMPP message overhead in secure group transmissions. We present the design and implementation of these optimizations and the results that these optimizations have on message overhead, extensibility, and usability of both CMS and XMPP. We have developed these methods to extend CMS and XMPP with the ultimate goal of establishing standards for securing communications in disadvantaged networks.