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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/design.md | 71 |
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diff --git a/doc/design.md b/doc/design.md index 494604f..c9659d5 100644 --- a/doc/design.md +++ b/doc/design.md @@ -148,49 +148,47 @@ attacks. A log operator can at best deny service with these assumptions. An overview of sigsum logging is shown in Figure 1. Before going into detail we give a brief primer below. ``` - +----------+ -checksum +----------| Signer |-----------+ data -metadata | +----------+ | metadata - | ^ | proof - v | v - +---------+ proof | +--------------+ - | Log |----------+ | Distribution | - +---------+ +--------------+ - ^ | checksum | | - | | metadata | |data - | | proof +---------+ data | |metadata - | +---------->| Monitor |<-------+ |proof - v +---------+ v - +---------+ | +----------+ - | witness | | false | Verifier | - +---------+ | claim +----------+ - v - investigate - - Figure 1: system overview + +----------+ + checksum +----------| Signer |-----------+ data + metadata | +----------+ | metadata + | ^ | proof + v | v + +-----+ H(vk) +---------+ proof | +--------------+ + | DNS |------>| Log |----------+ | Distribution | + +-----+ +---------+ +--------------+ + ^ | checksum | | + | | metadata | |data + | | proof +---------+ data | |metadata + | +---------->| Monitor |<-------+ |proof + v +---------+ v + +---------+ | +----------+ + | witness | | false | Verifier | + +---------+ | claim +----------+ + v + investigate + + Figure 1: system overview ``` A signer wants to make their key-usage transparent. Therefore, they sign a statement that sigsum logs accept. That statement encodes a checksum of some data. Minimal metadata must also be logged, such as the checksum's signature -and a hash of the public verification key. This ensures that every signed -checksum can be attributed to the signing party if you know their key. +and a hash of the public verification key. A hash of the public verification +key is configured in DNS as a TXT record to help log operators combat spam. -The signing party waits for their submission to be included in the log. When -there is an inclusion proof available that leads up to a cosigned Merkle tree -head, the checksum's data is ready for distribution with proofs of logging. +The signing party waits for their submission to be included in the log. When an +inclusion proof is available that leads up to a trustworthy Merkle tree head, +the signed checksum's data is ready for distribution with proofs of public +logging. A sigsum log does not help the signer with any data distribution. -These proofs are convincing for a verifier without any outbound network -connections if a threshold of witnesses followed a basic cosigning protocol. -Additional detail is provided in Section 3.2.3. +Verifiers use the signer's data if it is accompanied by proofs of public +logging. Monitors look for signed checksums and data that correspond to public +keys that they are aware of. Any falsifiable claim that a signer makes about +their key-usage can now be verified because no signing operation goes unnoticed. -Asynchronously, use-case specific monitors look for signed checksums that -correspond to public keys that they are aware of. Monitors and verifiers -rely on witness cosigning to be sure that they see the same append-only logs. - -Use-case specific monitors may verify the underlying data further by looking it -up in the same way that a verifier does. If the data cannot be found or if a -claimed property is false, that can be detected and investigated. Excellent! +Verifiers and monitors can be convinced that public logging happened without +additional outbound network connections if a threshold of witnesses followed a +cosigning protocol. More detail is provided in Section 3.2.3. ### 3.1 - Merkle tree A sigsum log maintains a public append-only Merkle tree. Independent witnesses @@ -229,8 +227,7 @@ replayed in a non-overlapping shard by a good Samaritan. The signer also has to do a one-time DNS setup. As outlined below, logs will check that _some domain_ is aware of the signer's verification key. This is -part of a defense mechanism that helps us combat log spam. It was not shown in -Figure 1 to avoid it from being overly cluttered. XXX: should be added? +part of a defense mechanism that helps us combat log spam. #### 3.2.2 - Submit request Sigsum logs implement an HTTP(S) API. Input and output is human-readable and |