Security Tokens and Security Mechanisms

The WS-Security specification provides an extensible mechanism for using security tokens to authenticate and encrypt SOAP Web Services messages. Use the SOAP-layer message security providers installed with the Web Server to employ username, password and X.509 certificate security tokens to authenticate and encrypt SOAP Web Services messages.

Username Tokens

The Web Server uses username tokens in the SOAP messages to establish the authentication identity of the message sender. The recipient of a message containing a Username token within an embedded password validates that the message sender is authorized to act as the user (identified in the token) by confirming that the sender knows the users secret password.

When using a Username token, a valid user database must be configured on the Web Server.

Digital Signatures

The Web Server uses XML Digital signatures to bind an authentication identity to the message content. Clients use digital signatures to establish their caller identity, analogous to basic authentication or SSL client certificate authentication. Digital signatures are verified by the message receiver to authenticate the source of the message content, which might be different from the sender of the message. When using digital signatures, valid keystore and truststore files must be configured on the Web Server.

Encryption

The purpose of encryption is to modify the data such that it can only be understood by its intended audience. This modification is accomplished by substituting an encrypted element for the original content. When predicated on public key cryptography, encryption establishes the identity of the parties who can read the message.

Message Protection Policies

Message protection policies are defined for request message processing and response message processing. These policies are expressed in terms of requirements for source or recipient authentication. A source authentication policy requires that the identity of the entity that sent a message or that defined the content of a message be established in the message so that the message receiver can authenticate it. A recipient authentication policy represents a requirement that the message be sent such that the identity of the entities that can receive the message can be established by the message sender. The providers apply specific message security mechanisms so that the message protection policies are in SOAP Web Services messages.

Request and response message protection policies are defined when a provider is configured in a container. You can also configure application-specific message protection policies at the granularity of the web service port or operation within the Sun deployment descriptors of the application or application client. Where message protection policies are defined, the request and response message protection policies of the client must match the request and response message protection policies of the server.