SecureBridge Details
SecureBridge can protect any TCP traffic using SSH or SSL. SSH and SSL are secure transport layer protocols that provide authentication for both client and server, strong encryption, and data integrity verification. SecureBridge can be used in conjunction with data access components to prevent data interception or modification in an untrusted network.
Advantages of SecureBridge Library
SecureBridge is very convenient in setup and usage. It is enough to place several components on the form and specify the server address and the user login information to establish a secure connection. Applications that have to work with secure information are easy to deploy, as they do not require any external files.
Full Support for the SSH2 Protocol
SecureBridge supports SSH2 protocol which is one of the most reliable protocols for data encryption. SSH2 is an acknowledged industry standard in the area of secure data transfer through unprotected connections.
Full Support for SSL 3.0 a TLS 1.0 Protocols
SecureBridge supports Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol, which is one of the most reliable protocols for data encryption along with SSH. SSL is a widely used protocol for ensuring safety of financial operations in Internet. Any Internet-resource that deals with money, protects its operations with SSL.
SSH Client
SecureBridge SSH client, which is implemented in the TScSSHClient component, can work with different SSH servers like OpenSSH, WinSSHD. It allows you to achieve high performance due to connection parameters management. SSH client unites several unprotected channels from client to server in one protected connection. Logical channels can exist in different threads.
SSH Server
High-performance SSH server with wide abilities for connection setup and users management. SSH server works with different types of SSH clients such as OpenSSH, PuTTY etc. Number of the clients connected simultaneously is limited only by system resources.
SSL Client
SecureBridge SSL client is implemented in the TScSSLClient component. It can work with other applications through SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 protocols. SSL client validates server certificate, encrypts/decrypts data transferred through a network.
Protection Against Diverse Attacks
SecureBridge protects transferred data against different kinds of attacks. SecureBridge uses the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm for connection establishing. A reliable random number generator is used for generating keys. To protect data against illegal access, information gets encrypted by symmetric algorithms that provide high speed and reliability. For data integrity verification hash algorithms like SHA1 are used.
Support for Third Party Components
SecureBridge supports Internet Direct components (Indy) and Data Access Components for MySQL (MyDAC). This allows you to implement all the advantages of encrypted connections within a single application without any external files.
How Does SecureBridge Work?
In order to ensure data safety in insecure networks, it is essential to take care of data protection and integrity, as well as of data receiver identification. So before putting the data into the insecure area, it should be encrypted. On the other side the data should be decrypted. In a general case an encrypted connection between a client and a server may look like this:
General view of secure connections
Both security client and security server can be implemented with SecureBridge just by adding several components into your application. This will not affect its architecture, and will not add any external dependencies. It is also possible with SecureBridge to make separate security client and server applications to protect connections between trusted networks.
Both SSH and SSL are designed to protect network connections. As these protocols have certain differences, they have to be described separately.
SSH tunnel can ensure data transferring from several clients of one secure area to clients in another secure area through one protected TCP connection. The general chart of computer ties when connecting through the SSH tunnel is presented below:
SSH tunnel diagram
SecureBridge can act as both SSH client (TScSSHClient) and SSH server (TScSSHServer). In some cases SSH client and SSH server are embedded into applications whose connections have to be protected.
SSL connection resembles SSH tunnel. The difference is that SSL client and SSL server are always embedded into applications. To put some data into network, an application calls methods of the embedded SSL client/server, and data is encrypted and sent. To get data from network, the application also calls methods of SSL. So, SSL clients and servers operate within the application's address space. The general chart of computer ties when connecting through SSL is presented below:
SSL connection diagram
Functionality of the SSL client is implemented in the TScSSLClient component. It lets building fast clients for different servers that support SSL.
Components
SecureBridge includes the following components:
- TScSSHClient - SSH-client, unites several logical unprotected connections to the server into one protected connection. Logical connections can exist in different threads
- TScSSHChannel - logical connection to TScSSHClient within the client secure area. Receives/sends data from/to SSH server or forwards from the TCP port of one computer to another computer through a secure channel
- TScSSHShell - Serves for remote commands execution using abilities of an SSH server
- TScSSHServer - implements SSH server functionality
- TScSSLClient - SSL-client, supports SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 protocols. It validates server certificate, encrypts/decrypts data transferred through a network
- TScFileStorage - stores list of certificates, keys, and users in files
- TScRegStorage - stores list of certificates, keys, and users in the system registry
- TScCryptoAPIStorage - stores list of certificates and keys in system and external storages using the CryptoAPI functionality
- TScIdIOHandler - provides easy integration with Indy components to protect data transferred through network by Indy
- TMySSHIOHandler - lets MyDAC connecting to MySQL server through secure connection (this component is included into MyDAC as a demo project)
- TMySSLIOHandler - lets MyDAC connecting to MySQL server through SSL connection (this component is included into MyDAC as a demo project)
Compatibility
SecureBridge is tested with OpenSSH 3.8 and PuTTY.
SecureBridge is compatible with the following IDEs:
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SecureBridge supports only Professional, Enterprise, and Architect IDE editions.
SecureBridge Design-Time View
