TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
Breakdown of the TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 cipher suite
Cyber Security Rating for TLS_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 - B
B
Key Exchange Mechanism
RSA key exchange does not provide perfect forward secrecy because if an attacker captures the RSA private key, they can decrypt all past communications encrypted with the corresponding public key. This is due to the static nature of the key pairs used in RSA, which contrasts with protocols like Diffie-Hellman, where ephemeral keys ensure that past sessions remain secure even if current keys are compromised.
A
Authentication
RSA as an authentication mechanism in cipher suites is secure because it relies on the difficulty of factoring large prime numbers. This makes it computationally infeasible for attackers to derive the private key from the public key, ensuring confidentiality and integrity in secure communications.
A
Cipher
AES should be used in cipher suites because it offers strong security with efficient performance, large block size (128 bits), and resistance to known attacks. Its widespread adoption and thorough analysis by the cryptographic community ensure reliability and robustness for encrypting sensitive data.
A
Hash
Improving greatly from SHA1, SHA-256 and above create secure hashes through robust cryptographic algorithms that ensure collision resistance and preimage resistance. They process input data in fixed-size blocks, applying complex mathematical transformations that make it computationally impractical to reverse-engineer the original data from its hash.
A
Key Size
128-bit symmetric encryption keys are considered secure because they provide an astronomically large number of possible combinations (2^128), making brute-force attacks computationally infeasible with current technology. This level of security is sufficient for most practical purposes and is widely adopted in various encryption protocols.
A
Cipher Mode
GCM (Galois/Counter Mode) is a mode of operation for block ciphers, offering both encryption and authentication. Widely used in cipher suites, GCM ensures data confidentiality and integrity with high efficiency and performance. It combines the Counter (CTR) mode for encryption with a Galois field-based authentication tag for data integrity. GCM's parallelizable nature makes it particularly fast and suitable for high-speed networks and secure communications. By incorporating GCM, cipher suites provide robust security against unauthorized access and tampering, making it a preferred choice for modern cryptographic protocols.
Web infrastructure owners must ensure they only allow secure cipher suites to protect against potential security threats. Cipher suites determine the encryption algorithms and key exchange mechanisms used in HTTPS connections. Insecure cipher suites can leave data vulnerable to interception, decryption, and manipulation by malicious actors. By restricting to secure cipher suites, owners mitigate risks such as data breaches, unauthorized access, and compromise of sensitive information. This proactive measure helps maintain trust with users, ensures compliance with security standards, and safeguards the integrity and confidentiality of data transmitted over the web.
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