Camp 2011 - Version 1.4

Chaos Communication Camp 2011
Project Flow Control

Speakers
Torbjörn Lofterud
Schedule
Day Day 1 - 2011-08-10
Room Baikonur
Start time 15:00
Duration 01:00
Info
ID 4421
Event type Lecture
Track Hacking
Language used for presentation English
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Strong encryption of credit card information

Attacks on common failures when encrypting credit card information

The PCI DSS standard require strong cryptography or secure hashing as ways to protect cardholder information. But one important factor is missing; detailed instructions for how to correctly apply cryptography to credit card numbers.

The primary objective of the Payment Card Industry Data Protection Standard (PCI DSS) is to safeguard cardholder information such as the Primary Account Number (PAN) and the sensitive authentication data (CVV2, Track 1 and 2).

Chapter 3.4 deals with the details regarding encryption and key management.

> 3.4 Render PAN unreadable anywhere it is stored (including on portable digital media, > backup media, and in logs) by using any of the following approaches: > * One-way hashes based on strong cryptography > * Truncation > * Index tokens and pads > * Strong cryptography with associated key-management processes and procedures

What constitutes strong cryptography is further detailed in the glossary and in the PCI SSC FAQ documents as well as in periodic communication to security assessors. But one important factor is missing from the communication; the modes of operation for the cryptographic primitives.

The PCI DSS glossary specifically mentions AES, 3DES, RSA, ECC, Elgamal and SHA1 as “industry-tested and accepted standards and algorithms for encryption” but fails to address important issues such as RSA padding and cipher block chaining for 3DES and AES.

The requirements are quite clear on the fact that encryption and hashing needs to be implemented properly, but gives little guidance to developers or assessors as to what strong cryptography actually means.

There are at least three different scenarios where cardholder information appears to be protected in compliance with the standard but remains vulnerable if disclosed. This presentation describes attacks for common failure scenarios when encrypting credit card information.

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