NanoGrid Certification Authority
Certificate Policy and
Certification Practice Statement
Version:  1.0
Date:  January 20, 2011
OID:  1.3.6.1.4.1.22139.2.1.0


Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

This Certification Policy and Practice Statement (CP/CPS) is structured according to RFC2527. It describes the set of rules used by NanoGrid Certification Authority (NanoGrid CA), operated by the Grid team of the Russian Research Centre ``Kurchatov Institute'' (RRC KI).

This document can be referred as NanoGrid Certification Authority Certificate Policy and Certification Practice Statement version 1.0 or OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.22139.2.1.0.

1.2 Identification

Document name:  NanoGrid Certification Authority Certificate Policy and
Certification Practice Statement.
Version:  1.0.
Date:  January 20, 2011.
OID:  1.3.6.1.4.1.22139.2.1.0.

1.3 Community and Applicability

1.3.1 Certification authorities

NanoGrid Certification Authority is the root certification authority for NanoGrid project.

1.3.2 Registration Authorities

The current list of registration authorities for NanoGrid CA may be obtained from the following URL:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/requests/ra-list.html.

1.3.3 End entities

NanoGrid CA may issue certificates for people, hosts and host applications (services) involved in the Russian Data Intensive Grid consortium.

1.3.4 Applicability

The certificates issued by NanoGrid CA may not be used in financial transactions of any sort.

1.4 Contact Details

1.4.1 Contact Person

The NanoGrid CA is operated by:
Eygene Ryabinkin, RRC KI,
Russia, 123128, Moscow, Kurchatov square, 1.
phone: +7 499 196-95-19.
e-mail: rea@grid.kiae.ru.
Generic contact for the NanoGrid CA:
e-mail: nng-ca-support@grid.kiae.ru.

1.4.2 CP/CPS Contact Person

The contact person for this CP/CPS is:
Eygene Ryabinkin, RRC KI,
Russia, 123182, Moscow, Kurchatov square, 1.
phone: +7 499 196-95-19.
e-mail: rea@grid.kiae.ru.

1.4.3 Online repositories

General URL:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/.
Policy documents:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/policy/.
Certificate repository:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/certificates/.
Certificate revocation list:
http://ice.grid.kiae.ru/ca/NNG/cacrl.pem.
CA root certificate:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/cacrt.pem.

2 General Provisions

2.1 Obligations

2.1.1 NanoGrid CA obligations

The NanoGrid CA:

2.1.2 NanoGrid CA Registration Authorities obligations

The NanoGrid CA Registration Authorities:

It is up to the Registration Authority to decide wheither user or host has the rights to have a NanoGrid CA certificate. In the process of making such a decision, Registration Authority can contact the superior person of a requester to verify the requester's participation in the NanoGrid project.

2.1.3 Subscriber obligations

Subscribers:

2.1.4 Relaying party obligations

Relying party:

2.1.5 Repository obligations

NanoGrid CA will upload all issued certificates to the publicly-accessible on-line repository. NanoGrid CA will maintain Certificate Revocation List (CRL). NanoGrid CA may publish information about pending certificate requests.

2.2 Liability

The certification service is run with a reasonable level of security but is provided on a best effort basis. NanoGrid CA takes no responsibility for problems arising from its operation or from the use of certificates it provides. NanoGrid CA denies any financial or other kind of responsibility for damages or inpayments resulting from its operation.

2.3 Financial responsibility

No financial responsibility is accepted.

2.4 Interpretation and Enforcement

This document must be treated according to the current law of Russian Federation. Legal disputes arising from the operation of the NanoGrid CA will be resolved according with the Russian Federation law.

2.5 Fees

No fees are charged.

2.6 Publication and Repository

2.6.1 Publication of NanoGrid CA information

NanoGrid CA operates a public web site http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/ that contains:

2.6.2 Frequency of publication

The user, host and host application certificates are published as soon as they are generated. The new Certificate Revocation List (CRL) is issued after each revocation and at least 7 days before expiration of previous CRL. The CRL has 30 days validity time.

2.6.3 Access controls

No access controls to these publications are performed.

2.7 Compliance audit

No stipulation.

2.8 Confidentiality

NanoGrid CA collects subscriber's full name, organization and unit names and electronic mailing address. Subscriber's organization, unit name and full name is included in the user certificate. All collected information is not confidential. NanoGrid CA will not publish subscriber's electronic mailing address in the list of issued certificates on the NanoGrid CA web site.

NanoGrid CA by no means wants to access user's, host's or host application's private key. Private key is generated only by users or host/service administrators and must not be disclosed to anyone else. NanoGrid CA by no means asks users to pass their private keys along with the certificate requests.

2.9 Intellectual Property Rights

NanoGrid CA does not claim any intellectual property rights on issued certificates and Certificate Revocation Lists.

3 Identification and authentication


3.1 Initial Registration


3.1.1 Types of names

NanoGrid CA uses the following types of names for different types of certificates:

CN component of distinguished name for a person certificate must contain the person's first and last names.

An optional OU attribute can be inserted between OU=Organisation component and the CN component in the cases, when organisation name is not enough to clearly identify the administrative domain for the certificate holder. One example of such a situation is the organisation with rich administrative infrastructure and the loose administrative coupling between its units.

All distinguished names are unique. In cases when user's first name and last name coincide with existing certificate ones, middle name or initial may be inserted into the CN field of the distinguished name.


3.1.2 Method to prove possession of private key

Each request must be signed with the private key corresponding to the public key provided in certificate request.

NanoGrid CA will neither generate nor store any private keys for subscribers.

3.1.3 Authentication of organization identity

NanoGrid CA Registration Authority verifies the organization identity by checking:


3.1.4 Authentication of individual identity

The NanoGrid CA Registration Authority verifies the person identity and it's affiliation with the claimed organisation entity by face-to-face meeting with the person, who request the certificate.

3.2 Routine Rekey

Routine re-keying is allowed to current subscribers of NanoGrid CA and must take place before expiration of subscriber's current certificate. The re-key request must be consisted of certificate request with the new key pair and is to be signed with the private key of subscriber's current certificate. Resigning of existing public key is not allowed.

3.3 Rekey after Revocation

NanoGrid CA will not recertify a revoked key. User of a revoked certificate must obtain a new one following the procedure of initial registration, described in section 3.1.


3.4 Revocation request

Revocation request must be authenticated, unless NanoGrid CA can independently verify that a key compromise has happened. The preferred method for authentification is electronic mail message, digitally signed with a non-expired and previously non-revoked certificate issued by NanoGrid CA. If this is not possible, subscriber must contact the NanoGrid CA Registration Authority which verifies user's identity using procedures simular to those described in section 3.1.2.

4 Operational Requirements

4.1 Certificate Application

Applicants must generate their own key pair themselves; NanoGrid CA will never generate a key pair for an applicant. NanoGrid CA will not accept private key escrow responsibilities and will reject any certificate request containing the private key.

The minimum key length for all applications is 1024 bits. The maximum validity time for each certificate is one year and 31 days.

Generated certificate request must be sent by electronic mail to the corresponding NanoGrid CA Registration Authority. Mail message must be sent from electronic mail address that does exists and can be mailed to.

NanoGrid CA will reject all non-legitimate certification requests; in the case of rejection applicant will be notified by electronic mail, except for obvious nonsense requests that will be rejected silently.

4.2 Certificate Issuance

Upon a receipt of a certificate request, that is qualified to be valid according to this CP/CPS, NanoGrid CA Registration Authority will verify the request and authenticate applicant as described in section 3.1. After successful verification and authentication, NanoGrid CA Registration Authority digitally signs new request and transfers it to NanoGrid CA, where certificate will be issued. The applicant will be notified of issuance by electronic mail or using another means of communication, if requested by a subscriber. If communication fails permanently, the certificate will be revoked without further notice.

A certification request is normally handled in the period of one week, however, during vacation or national holidays periods the response time can increase to three weeks.

4.3 Certificate Acceptance

Valid certificate issued by the NanoGrid CA must pass the following requirements:

4.4 Certificate Suspension and Revocation

4.4.1 Circumstances for revocation

A certificate will be revoked when

4.4.2 Who can request revocation

The certificate holder or any other entity presenting proof of knowledge of the private key compromise or subscriber's data variation can request a certificate revocation.

4.4.3 Procedure for the revocation request

NanoGrid CA will handle any revocation request, authenticated or unauthenticated. If NanoGrid CA can independently verify that a certificate has been compromised or misused, NanoGrid CA will revoke the certificate. In all other cases, the revocation request will be authenticated as described in section 3.4.

Revocation request must be passed to the NanoGrid CA Registration Authority who signed the certificate request for the certificate to be revoked. The rules for passing revocation request to the NanoGrid CA Registration Authority are described in section 3.4.

4.4.4 Revocation request grace period

Revocation request can be canceled within 24 hours after it was received at the NanoGrid CA. But in the case of proved compromise the certificate will be revoked immediately.

For cancellation of the revocation request the certificate holder must contact the same RA, as for revocation request. The rules for passing cancellation request to the NanoGrid CA Registration Authority are just the same as in section 3.4.


4.4.5 Circumstances for suspension

Certificate suspension is not currently supported.

4.4.6 Who can request suspension

Certificate suspension is not currently supported.

4.4.7 Procedure for suspension request

Certificate suspension is not currently supported.

4.4.8 Limits on suspension period

Certificate suspension is not currently supported.

4.4.9 CRL issuance frequency

The Certificate Revocation List (CRL) is issued after each revocation and at least every 7 days. The lifetime of CRL is 30 days. CRL will be made available for downloading as soon as it was published.

4.4.10 CRL checking requirements

4.4.11 Online revocation/status checking availability

All valid certificates issued by NanoGrid CA are available online the following URL:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/certificates/.

4.4.12 Online revocation checking requirements for relying parties

Not applicable.

4.4.13 Other forms of revocation advertisements

The certificate holder is notified if some other person asks for his/her certificate revocation.

4.4.14 Other forms of revocation advertisements checking requirements for relying parties

Not applicable.

4.4.15 Private key compromise

When the certificate revocation is a result of a private key compromise all NanoGrid CA Registration Authorities and the holder of the private key are notified by email about this case immediately after new CRL issuance.

4.5 Security Audit Procedures

4.5.1 Types of event recorded

The following events are recorded:

4.5.2 Processing Frequency of Audit Logs

Not defined.

4.5.3 Retention period for Audit Logs

Audit logs will be kept for at least 3 years.

4.5.4 Protection of audit log

Audit logs may be consulted only by: Audit logs are copied to an offline medium. Online audit logs are protected using the file system security.

4.5.5 Audit log backup procedures

Audit logs are copied to an offline medium.

4.5.6 Audit collection system

The audit logs archive is internal to the NanoGrid CA.

4.5.7 Vulnerability assessments

No stipulation.

4.5.8 Operational audits

Operational audit is performed twice per year and includes auditing of all NanoGrid CA staff including Registration Authorities.

4.6 Records Archive

4.6.1 Types of event recorded

The following types of events are recorded:

4.6.2 Retention period for the archive

Records will be kept for at least 3 years.

4.6.3 Protection of the archive

Records may be consulted only by: All records are copied to an offline medium. Online records are protected using the file system security.

4.6.4 Archive backup procedures

No stipulation.

4.6.5 Requirements for time-stamping of records

No stipulation.

4.6.6 Archive collection system

The records archive is internal to the NanoGrid CA.

4.6.7 Procedures for obtaining and verifying archive information

No stipulation.

4.7 Key Changeover

Public keys are distributed by electronic mail or using online system at the following URL:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/certificates/.

4.8 Compromise and Disaster Recovery

In case the NanoGrid CA private key is compromised the NanoGrid CA will:
  1. Notify all subscribers and cross-certifying Certification Authorities.
  2. Notify Registration Authorities.
  3. Terminate the issuance and distribution of the certificates and CRLs.
  4. Notify relevant security contacts.
  5. Notify as widely as possible about service termination.

In case the NanoGrid CA Registration Authority private key is compromised the NanoGrid CA will:

  1. Notify all subscribers and cross-certifying Certification Authorities.
  2. Notify Registration Authorities.
  3. Terminate the operation of the compromised Registration Authority.
  4. Revoke all certificates validated by the compromised Registration Authority.
  5. Notify as widely as possible about Registration Authority compromise.

4.9 Certification Authority termination

Upon termination NanoGrid CA will:
  1. Notify all subscribers and cross-certifying Certification Authorities.
  2. Notify Registration Authorities.
  3. Terminate the issuance of certificates and CRLs.
  4. Notify relevant security contacts.
  5. Notify as widely as possible about service termination.

5 Physical, procedural and personnel security controls

5.1 Physical controls

5.1.1 Site location

The NanoGrid CA is located at the Russian Research Centre ``Kurchatov Institute'' in Moscow, Russia and is hosted on a professional collocation area.

5.1.2 Physical access

Physical access to the NanoGrid CA hosts is restricted to authorized personnel.

5.1.3 Power and air conditioning

The NanoGrid CA signing machine and the NanoGrid CA web server are both protected with uninterruptable power supplies. Environmental temperature in room containing NanoGrid CA related equipment is maintained at appropriate level by an air conditioning system.

5.1.4 Water exposures

Due to the location of NanoGrid CA facilities floods are not expected.

5.1.5 Fire prevention and protection

Buildings containing NanoGrid CA facilities obey to the Russian laws regarding fire prevention and protection of buildings.

5.1.6 Media storage

The NanoGrid CA key is kept in several removable storage media. Backup copies of NanoGrid CA related information are kept on CD-ROM and flash disks.

5.1.7 Waste disposal

Waste carrying potential confidential information such as old storage media are physically destroyed before being trashed.

5.1.8 Off-site backup

No off-site backups are currently performed.

5.2 Procedural controls

No stipulation.

5.3 Personnel security controls

5.3.1 Background checks and clearance procedures for NanoGrid CA personnel

NanoGrid CA personnel is recruited from the ``Kurchatov Institute'' Grid team. Registration Authorities personnel is recruited from personnel of corresponding institutions.

5.3.2 Background checks and clearance procedures for other personnel

No other personnel is authorized to access NanoGrid CA facilities without the physical presence of NanoGrid CA personnel.

5.3.3 Training requirements and procedures

Internal training is given to the NanoGrid CA operators and Registration Authorities operators.

5.3.4 Training period and retraining procedures

Repeated training is given on every change of this document or used software.

5.3.5 Frequency and sequence of job rotation

Job rotation is not performed.

5.3.6 Sanctions against personnel

No stipulation.

5.3.7 Controls on contracting personnel

No stipulation.

5.3.8 Documentation supplied to personnel

All personnel is supplied with copies of this document and NanoGrid CA Operation Manual.

6 Technical security controls

6.1 Key pair generation and installation

6.1.1 Key pair generation

Each subscriber must generate its own key pair. NanoGrid CA does not generate private keys for subscribers.

6.1.2 Private key delivery to entity

Private key deliverance is not supported.

6.1.3 Public key delivery to users

Public keys are delivered by electronic mail. They are also accessible from public web page at http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/certificates/.

6.1.4 NanoGrid CA public key delivery to users

NanoGrid CA public key is accessible from public web page at http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/cacrt.pem.

6.1.5 Key sizes

The minimum key length for user, host or host application certificate is 1024 bits. The NanoGrid CA key length is 2048 bits.

6.1.6 Public key parameters generation

No stipulation.

6.1.7 Parameter quality checking

No stipulation.

6.1.8 Key generation method

Keys are generated using software algorithms.

6.1.9 Key usage purposes

Keys must be used according to the value of X.509v3 keyUsage field.

6.2 Private key protection

6.2.1 Private key (n out of m) multi-person control

No stipulation.

6.2.2 Private key escrow

No stipulation.

6.2.3 Private key archival and backup

The NanoGrid CA private key is kept encrypted in multiple copies on CD-ROM and flash disks in safe places. One copy of encrypted key and its passphrase is sealed in the envelope and kept in a safe.

6.3 Other aspects of key pair management

The NanoGrid CA private key validity period is 15 years.

6.4 Activation data

Each copy of the NanoGrid CA private key is protected by its own passphrase which is at least 15 characters long.

6.5 Computer security controls

6.5.1 Specific security technical requirements

The NanoGrid CA operating systems are maintained at a high level of security by applying all relevant patches. Monitoring is performed to detect unauthorized software changes.

6.5.2 Computer security rating

Not tested.

6.6 Life cycle security controls

No stipulation.

6.7 Network security controls

The NanoGrid CA public-interface machine is protected by a firewall. The server access is restricted to a few stations.

6.8 Cryptographic module engineering controls

No stipulation.

7 Certificate and CRL profile

7.1 Certificate profile

7.1.1 Version number

X.509 v3.

7.1.2 Certificate extensions

The following extensions may be included in the certificate issued by NanoGrid CA:

7.1.3 Algorithm Object Identifiers

No stipulation

7.1.4 Name forms

Issuer: C=RU,O=NanoGrid,CN=NanoGrid CA.
For Subject field name forms check section 3.1.1.

7.1.5 Name constraints

Subject attribute constraints:

7.1.6 Certificate Policy Object Identifier

This policy is identified by OID 1.3.6.1.4.1.22139.2.1.0.

7.1.7 Usage policy Object Identifier

No stipulation.

7.1.8 Policy qualifier syntax and semantics

No stipulation.

7.2 CRL profile

7.2.1 Version

X.509 v1.

7.2.2 CRL and CRL Entry extensions

None.

8 Specification administration

8.1 Specification change procedures

No stipulation.

8.2 Publication and notification policies

The last version of this document is available at the following URL:
http://ca.nanogrid.kiae.ru/policy/.

8.3 CPS approval procedures

No stipulation.

9 Versions

9.1 Changelog

9.1.1 Version 1.0, January 20, 2011