Security Model

This is a draft, which will be implemented while fixing #35 and #59.

Confidence/Integrity

All communication will happen using a XML-RPC/SSL secure channel.

Authentication

NWU must work with bi-directional security checks. The server must authenticate the client, and vice versa.

Authenticating the server (See #35)

• DNS fqdn must match the SSL certificate commonName
• After the first connection, the client should save the server's certificate (maybe reviewed by the admin)
• If the cert changes, the connection should not be established

Authenticating the clients (See #59)

• There are three possible methods. None were implemented yet.
  • Use SSL certificates signed by the server
  • Use auto-generated passwords, but authenticate to the server using challenge/response.
  • Any new client is moved to a "pending" group (simplest and possibly best method)
• In any method, we have to make sure that the sysadmin somehow review and approve each client.