[86903] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Wifi Security
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Steven M. Bellovin)
Mon Nov 21 17:14:23 2005
From: "Steven M. Bellovin" <smb@cs.columbia.edu>
To: "Stephen J. Wilcox" <steve@telecomplete.co.uk>
Cc: Joel Jaeggli <joelja@darkwing.uoregon.edu>,
"Patrick W. Gilmore" <patrick@ianai.net>, nanog@nanog.org
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 21 Nov 2005 21:51:58 GMT."
<Pine.LNX.4.44.0511212148070.25860-100000@server2.tcw.telecomplete.net>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2005 17:13:46 -0500
Errors-To: owner-nanog@merit.edu
In message <Pine.LNX.4.44.0511212148070.25860-100000@server2.tcw.telecomplete.n
et>, "Stephen J. Wilcox" writes:
>
>we relay security information and hope
>the user clicks 'yes' when they are told the host key has changed
>
>you dont have to break the code if the endpoints trust sessions with you and
>share their encryption keys
>
Put another way, security is as much a matter of proper usage as proper
algorithms and proper code. See http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/heath.pdf
for a story of how the NSA and the US Navy got that wrong. For that
matter, read Leo Marks' wonderful memoir "Between Silk and Cyanide".
He's telling a story, not trying to teach, but the message is there
nonetheless.
As technologists, of course, it's incumbent on us to design security
systems that help the user understand consequences of actions, and to
help avoid dangerous situations.
--Steven M. Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
