We present a method to secure the complete path between a server and the local human user at a network node. This is useful for scenarios like internet banking, electronic signatures, or online voting. Protection of input authenticity and output integrity and authenticity is accomplished by a combination of traditional and novel technologies, e.g., SSL, ActiveX, and DirectX. Our approach does not require administrative privileges to deploy and is hence suitable for consumer applications. Results are based on the implementation of a proof-of-concept application for the Windows platform.
A proposal for a user interface for prevents Trojan horses from tampering with application output. @cite_17 Kernelizing the graphics server and delegating window manager tasks to the application level is a prototypical solution in @cite_27 . However, it is not compatible with the Windows platform used on the vast majority of existing client computers.
@cite_27 @cite_17
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Malware such as Trojan horses and spyware remain to be persistent security threats that exploit the overly complex graphical user interfaces of today's commodity operating systems. In this paper, we present the design and implementation of Nitpicker - an extremely minimized secure graphical user interface that addresses these problems while retaining compatibility to legacy operating systems. We describe our approach of kernelizing the window server and present the deployed security mechanisms and protocols. Our implementation comprises only 1,500 lines of code while supporting commodity software such as X11 applications alongside protected graphical security applications. We discuss key techniques such as client-side window handling, a new floating-labels mechanism, drag-and-drop, and denial-of-service-preventing resource management. Furthermore, we present an application scenario to evaluate the feasibility, performance, and usability of our approach If signaling channels can only be driven by a trusted path, they cannot be exploited by trojan horses in untrusted software. To this end, the SMITE secure computer system provides a general-purpose trusted path, based on a screen editor, which would act as the users' normal interface to the system. The feasibility of the approach relies on the use of a sympathetic computer architecture, which supports a fine grain of protection. The authors describe the trusted path and the user interface of the SMITE system. They discuss the formal specification of the display functions. They examine the use of SMITE for high-assurance applications. >