The security model we have designed allows for a few options when deciding how to stay secure. Today's topic will be to explore security and how you can be sure you know all of the primary methods for keeping data and your credentials secure.
Authentication
A session token is generated using an
application key, username and password. With these three credentials
you authenticate to a specific application. Its important that you
secure the Application Key because like your username it is also part
of the total authentication into the system.
Passwords
Each of the password change methods
require a full re-authentication by the user. This is to prevent
someone from stealing a session token and taking over an account. If
you use SSL there should be no way for an external party to take over
your account.
Session Tokens
The session token was designed to give you a sliding window in which you can operate on the APIs from a single external location. A session token is in essence the key to our web services after you have proven you are who you say you are. This token is locked to a single IP Address always. This is because a session token is something that is very specific to a user and should never be given to anyone else.
The session token not only will let you get access to the web services but it will also let you download your files. Below is a URL that has been built based on a session token that will access the file file.txt in "application1" and childuser1 which in this example is a child account.
http://services.nirvanix.com/SESSIONTOKEN/application1/childuser1/path/file.txt
Session tokens stay active for 20 minutes unless they are used. Whenever a session token is used it will be updated to be active for another 20 minutes. This means if your session token stays active it could be available indefinately. Because of this its a good idea to call logout which destroys a session token. The reason this is important is to prevent anyone who may be watching your http traffic.
The best use case for a session token is to login, do a single operation using HTTPS and then logout. However, there are a number of reasons this isn't always possible. If you have large amounts of data to pass or are extremely time sensitive the addition of SSL could be too much overhead. If you find yourself in such a situation be aware that if someone is able to get a session token they will still have to try to spoof your IP Address to use the token. This is why its always a best practice to call logout at any time you have completed your operation because that will instantly invalidate the session token assuring you that no-one else may use that token either.
Upload Tokens
The upload token is another form of validation that can be created to allow users to interact with the system. The reason the upload token is separate from session tokens is to allow the ability to pass to the end client in a web site scenario this token to do an upload. If a session token were used the end client could use that token to call any method under their account. With the addition of the GetStorageNodeExtended method you can now also lock an upload token to a specific IP and allow them to only upload to a specific directory.
Download Tokens
A token can be generated with GetOptimalURLs which lets you access a file for a specified period of time. The token can be created in a way that is similar to upload tokens that allows you to only allow a specific IP Address. The download tokens will timeout after a specified period of time. The suggestion is always to keep the timeout as short as possible since this token cannot be destroyed later. If you distribute the link and it is not locked to a specific IP Address anyone can download that file until it expires.
Password Locking
If the login system is called and fails 5 times your login will be locked. This is a temporary lock that will be released after 15 minutes. This is necessary to prevent attempts at guessing passwords. You can unlock your account at the Nirvanix Management Portal (NMP) (http://nmp.nirvanix.com/) using the security question answer.
Re-setting Application Key
The application key should be considered a secure item since it identifies your application. Should someone get your application key and you are concerned that you have been compromised you can regenerate it using the NMP. Any applications using the old key will not be able to login again until the new application key is used.
Additional Security Information
A whitepaper is available that details eavesdropping, impersonation and database attacks. You can find this and other important whitepapers at: Nirvanix Whitepapers