SaTC: CORE: Small: Usable Key Management and Forward Secrecy for Secure Email

安全地在线发送和接收信息是我们这个互联世界的基本需求。然而，除了最专业的用户之外，最常用的在线应用之一--电子邮件--在很大程度上仍然不安全。研究人员将收集数据，以更好地了解用户为什么不采用安全电子邮件。他们还将为用户确定最实用、最有用的做法，以保护他们的安全电子邮件免受黑客攻击，并确保他们不会因为忘记解锁其敏感电子邮件的密码或密钥而失去对其安全电子邮件的访问权限。最初的研究将在实验室环境中进行，利用研究人员开发的一种新方法来测试两个新手用户是否可以在没有外部专家帮助的情况下采用安全电子邮件系统。在该项目接近尾声时，研究人员将使用他们开发的一流系统进行长期可用性研究，以了解人们如何将安全电子邮件整合到他们的日常电子邮件习惯中。该项目解决了为普通公众提供可用的、安全的电子邮件的长期问题。密钥管理是一个核心问题。研究人员将探索首次使用时信任(豆腐)密钥交换，随后将探索各种方法来提高对交换的密钥的信任。从豆腐密钥交换开始，优先考虑可部署性和可用性，而其他方法可以提高安全性，例如，通过使用公共分类账和前向保密。密钥将仅与常规或经批准的联系人交换，因此垃圾邮件发送者不容易向大量用户发送加密的垃圾邮件和恶意软件。研究人员还将开发可用的密钥存储软件，包括密钥便携性和备份。潜在的解决方案包括纯本地存储、加密云存储、智能手机应用程序和硬件令牌。对于备份，我们将评估各种方法，帮助用户将主密钥存储在安全的位置，而不需要技术专业知识来管理密钥。研究人员将使用密钥棘轮支持安全电子邮件的前向保密。通过开发具有通用性和互操作性要求的电子邮件，可用密钥管理方面的进步将广泛适用于包括即时消息在内的各种其他应用程序。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Sending and receiving information securely online is a basic need in our connected world. However, one of the most frequently used online applications, email, remains largely insecure for all but the most expert users. The researchers will gather data to better understand why users do not adopt secure email. They will also identify the most practical, usable practices for users to safeguard their secure email from hackers, and make sure they do not lose access to their secure email by forgetting the password or key that unlocks their sensitive emails. The initial studies will be conducted in a laboratory environment, utilizing a novel methodology the researchers have developed that tests whether two novice users can adopt a secure email system without help from an outside expert. Toward the end of the project, the researchers will conduct long-term usability studies with the best-of-class systems they have developed to understand how people integrate secure email into their everyday email habits.This project addresses the long-standing problem of providing usable, secure email for the general public. Key management is a core problem. The researchers will explore a trust-on-first-use (TOFU) key exchange, followed by a variety of methods that improve trust in the exchanged keys. Starting with TOFU key exchange prioritizes deployability and usability, while additional methods can increase security, for example, by using a public ledger and forward secrecy. Keys will be exchanged only with regular or approved contacts so that it is not easy for spammers to deliver encrypted spam and malware to large numbers of users. The researchers will also develop usable key storage software, including key portability and backup. Potential solutions include purely local storage, encrypted cloud storage, a smartphone app, and hardware tokens. For backup, we will evaluate a variety of methods to help users store a master key in a secure location, without requiring technical expertise to manage the key. The researchers will support forward secrecy for secure email using key ratcheting. By developing for email, with its generality and interoperability requirements, advances in usable key management will be broadly applicable to a wide variety of other applications, including instant messaging.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.