Towards a Secure Copyright Protection Infrastructure for e-Education Material: Principles learned from Experience Authors: J. C. K. Yau et al. Submission: International Journal of Network Security Reporter: Chun-Ta Li

2 2 Outline IntroductionIntroduction Particularities of e-Course DeliveryParticularities of e-Course Delivery Existing Copyright Protection SystemsExisting Copyright Protection Systems Our Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCXOur Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCX Security of eCXSecurity of eCX ConclusionConclusion CommentsComments

3 3 Introduction e-Educatione-Education Security concerns of e-EducationSecurity concerns of e-Education –Registered students infringing the copyrights –Confidentiality of user personal information –Course material copyright protection SPACE Online Universal Learning (SOUL) Project (Hong Kong University)SPACE Online Universal Learning (SOUL) Project (Hong Kong University) –e-Course eXchange – eCX infrastructure Present the experience and share with readersPresent the experience and share with readers

4 4 Particularities of e-Course Delivery Download the e-Course material onto student’s computers and view the material offlineDownload the e-Course material onto student’s computers and view the material offline –They are not always connected to the Internet –Many Internet providers are charging their users based on connection time –Not all of the students enjoy high bandwidth It gives great worries to copyright owners of the materialsIt gives great worries to copyright owners of the materials

5 5 Existing Copyright Protection Systems eBook solutionseBook solutions –Support only text-based materials –Offering limited support for graphics –Less support for audio and video materials –Tightly coupled with physical appliances Major computer technology vendors have been joining hands to foster solutions to the problemMajor computer technology vendors have been joining hands to foster solutions to the problem –Mostly for the storage and the transmission of valuable material –Tend to serve contents of specific domains

6 6 Our Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCX The SOUL PlatformThe SOUL Platform –e-Course is being transmitted between the three software suites –e-Course is stored in the computer of the participants –e-Education participants access the e-Course on their computers Transmission: PKI or SSL AuthorseCX ServerStudents Protection

7 7 Our Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCX (cont.) What is an e-Course?What is an e-Course? –It includes material of different media types –Web-enabled presentations that involve browser plug-ins (e.g., Flash, Java Applets etc.) –An e-Course should all reside within a single directory tree Personal ClassroomPersonal Classroom –Downloading e-Courses –Viewing e-Courses

8 8 Our Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCX (cont.) Personal ClassroomPersonal Classroom –e-Course (Offline-online Course) Course Package (encrypted files)Course Package (encrypted files) Course Voucher (decryption key)Course Voucher (decryption key) –Hardware Profile A snapshot of the configuration of the student’s computerA snapshot of the configuration of the student’s computer It is stored in the Computer License of the student’s computerIt is stored in the Computer License of the student’s computer It contains various information including student’s personal informationIt contains various information including student’s personal information

9 9 Our Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCX (cont.) Personal ClassroomPersonal Classroom –Downloader

10 Our Copyright Protection Infrastructure – eCX (cont.) Personal ClassroomPersonal Classroom –Viewing e-Courses

11 Security of eCX (cont.) The Danger of an Un-secure ReaderThe Danger of an Un-secure Reader –The save function of web browser to obtain copies of the material –eCX built a customized web browser Capturing of Localhost TrafficCapturing of Localhost Traffic –Securing the communication between the customized web browser and the client-side web server –Not all OS permit the capturing of localhost communication –Using some secure communication protocol (SSL or HTTTPS)

12 Security of eCX (cont.) Reverse EngineeringReverse Engineering –Crackers can reverse engineer Personal Classroom and illegally make copies of downloaded e-Courses –The integrity of important file are checked before they are loaded –Sensitive information that must be hard-coded are stored in their encrypted form and decrypted only when they are in use

13 Security of eCX (cont.) Virtual Machine AttackVirtual Machine Attack –Installing the Personal Classroom onto virtual machine –Downloading e-Course onto virtual machine –Adversary can redistribute the whole virtual machine to others –This is in fact a very hard to solve problem –Virtualization software itself is expensive and can’t be easily comprehended by general or inexperienced users

14 Conclusion We introduce our solution, called e-Course eXchange (eCX)We introduce our solution, called e-Course eXchange (eCX) –Local copy of the e-Course material in their own computer –Difficult for making illegal copies of the material –Reverse engineering attacks / Virtual machines

15 Comments Evaluation of PaperEvaluation of Paper –Sound but dull RecommendationRecommendation –Reject How to avoid the attack that a intruder intercepts the data when the student downloads packages from eCX serverHow to avoid the attack that a intruder intercepts the data when the student downloads packages from eCX server It seems no solutions to avoid those attacks in the paperIt seems no solutions to avoid those attacks in the paper It must compare with some security considerations proposed by Furnell et al. to convince that the proposed infrastructure is secure against a variety of attacksIt must compare with some security considerations proposed by Furnell et al. to convince that the proposed infrastructure is secure against a variety of attacks