[109278] in Cypherpunks
RE: Firedoors (fired Oors ?)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Trei, Peter)
Tue Mar 16 10:59:28 1999
From: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>
To: "'Bill Stewart'" <bill.stewart@pobox.com>, cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Cc: lars@nocrew.org, "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 10:46:08 -0500
Reply-To: "Trei, Peter" <ptrei@securitydynamics.com>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Bill Stewart [SMTP:bill.stewart@pobox.com]
> Sent: Sunday, March 14, 1999 7:04 PM
> To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
> Cc: lars@nocrew.org
> Subject: Re: Firedoors (fired Oors ?)
>
> At 03:54 PM 3/14/99 +0100, Some ostensibly Anonymous person wrote:
> >Finally, fireholes for the masses:
> >http://www.nocrew.org/software/httptunnel.html (sources & info.)
> > This is the beginning of an end to illiteracy-based security.
> >Imagine all those billions spent on firewall ("security") consultants
> :-))
> >It is just a matter of time before web operators start offering services
> based
> >on http tunnelling. With a proper mimicry there is no way to filter this
> out.
>
> The author is somewhat confused about why firewalls exist.
> They're not (usually) to keep insiders in - that's a known hard problem,
> though firewalls can sometimes be used to track what insiders send
> outside.
> They're to keep outside crackers out, because the damage that can
> be caused by crackers is serious enough that you can't afford not to,
> even if the cost is making it hard for employees to work from home or the
> road.
>
Bill:
Several whole countries - Singapore, some of the Gulf states,
and I think Red China, have firewalls 'to keep insiders in'.
(or at least, 'to control what insiders can see of or send to
the outside' - which is the same thing in cyberspace)
A wall, even a firewall, has two sides, and there are three
parties involved - the one which built and controls the wall,
and the entities on each side. Sometimes the controller is
identical with the parties on one side, but not always. When
it is not, the controller almost always claims power over
those on one side of the wall, regardless of their desire.
[...]
"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offense.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down..."
"Mending Wall" Robert Frost
Peter Trei
[Excuse the poor formatting of this message. I am using a
Microsoft mail program.]
