Securing XML Web Services by using a Proxy Web Service Model

XML Web Services play a fundamental role in creating distributed, integrated and interoperable solutions across the Internet. The main problem that XML Web Services face is the lack of support for security in the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) specification. SOAP is the vital communication protocol used by XML Web Services. Our research study aims at implementing a proxy based lightweight approach to provide security in XML Web Services. The approach provides an end-to-end message level security not only in the new Web Services but also the ones which are already running without their being disturbed. The SOAP message in a Web Services environment travels over the HTTP protocol which is not considered secure as messages are transmitted over the network in clear text format and can be easily read by protocol sniffers. Therefore, in our project we establish a secure connection between the end user and Proxy Web Service using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the connection between the Proxy Web Service and actual Web Service is also secured using SSL.