action.
3.4. Inconsistent Privacy Policy
The OPES entities may have privacy policies that are not consistent
with the data consumer application or content provider application.
Privacy related problems may be further complicated if OPES entities,
content providers, and end users belong to different jurisdictions
with different requirements and different levels of legal protection.
As a result, the end user may not be aware that he or she does not
have the expected legal protection. The content provider may be
exposed to legal risks due to a failure to comply with regulations
of which he is not even aware.
3.5. Exposure of Privacy Preferences
The OPES system may inadvertently or maliciously expose end user
privacy settings and requirements.
3.6. Exposure of Security Settings
There are risks that the OPES system may expose end user security
settings when handling the request and responses. The user data must
be handled as sensitive system information and protected against
accidental and deliberate disclosure.
3.7. Improper Enforcement of Privacy and Security Policy
OPES entities are part of the content distribution system and as such
take on certain obligations to support security and privacy policies
mandated by the content producer and/or end user. However there is a
danger that these policies are not properly implemented and enforced.
The data consumer application may not be aware that its protections
are no longer in effect.
There is also the possibility of security and privacy leaks due to
the accidental misconfiguration or, due to misunderstanding what
rules are in effect for a particular user or request.
Privacy and security related parts of the systems can be targeted by
malicious attacks and the ability to withstand such attacks is of
paramount importance.
3.8. DoS Attacks
DoS attacks can be of various types. One type of DoS attack takes
effect by overloading the client. For example, an intruder can
direct an OPES processor to issue numerous responses to a client.
There is also additional DoS risk from a rule misconfiguration that
would have the OPES processor ignore a data consumer application.
4. Security Considerations
This document discusses multiple security and privacy issues related
to the OPES services.
5. References
5.1. Normative References
[1] Barbir, A., Penno, R., Chen, R., Hofmann, M., and H. Orman, "An
Architecture for Open Pluggable Edge Services (OPES)", RFC 3835,
August 2004.
[2] Barbir, A., Burger, E., Chen, R., McHenry, S., Orman, H., and R.
Penno, "OPES Use Cases and Deployment Scenarios", RFC 3752,
April 2004.
[3] Barbir, A., Batuner, O., Beck, A., Chan, T., and H. Orman,
"Policy, Authorization, and Enforcement Requirements of Open
Pluggable Edge Services (OPES)", RFC 3838, August 2004.
5.2. Informative References
[4] Floyd, S. and L. Daigle, "IAB Architectural and Policy
Considerations for Open Pluggable Edge Services", RFC 3238,
January 2002.
6. Acknowledgements
Many thanks to T. Chan (Nokia) and A. Beck (Lucent).
7. Authors’ Addresses
Abbie Barbir
Nortel Networks
3500 Carling Avenue
Nepean, Ontario K2H 8E9
Canada
Phone: +1 613 763 5229
EMail: abbieb@nortelnetworks.com
Oskar Batuner
Independent consultant
EMail: batuner@attbi.com
Bindignavile Srinivas
Nokia
5 Wayside Road
Burlington, MA 01803
USA
EMail: bindignavile.srinivas@nokia.com
Markus Hofmann
Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies
Room 4F-513
101 Crawfords Corner Road
Holmdel, NJ 07733
US
Phone: +1 732 332 5983
EMail: hofmann@bell-labs.com
Hilarie Orman
Purple Streak Development
EMail: ho@alum.mit.edu
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