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SteveDallas · 06-27-2002, 02:54 PM

All I can say is, "know your enemy." One argument we heard after 9/11 (that we're not heearing quite so much any more) is that we couldn't have prevented that kind of airplane attack because we couldn't have imagined anybody would do it. If you can imagine that somebody can fake a police car, and not only do it but do it easily and cheaply, then you're more likely to be able to defend against it. If this kind of story gets covered up, people never consider that the car stopping them might be a fake.

I've always considered the computer thing about the source code to be specious. Any modern computer setup must be designed so that it is secure even if somebody knows how it works. Even if the source code is not available, if somebody wants (for example) to crack Windows NT, they can get a copy and rip it apart trying to figure out vulnerabilities before trying a real attack on a real target. What kind of system isn't safe if the source code is exposed? One where the source includes passwords? (I gather this is kind of what happened with deCSS, the thing to decode video from DVDs... a particularly slack implementation of a software DVD player left some encryption keys out in plaintext.)

06-27-2002, 02:54 PM	#2
SteveDallas Your Bartender Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Philly Burbs, PA Posts: 7,651	All I can say is, "know your enemy." One argument we heard after 9/11 (that we're not heearing quite so much any more) is that we couldn't have prevented that kind of airplane attack because we couldn't have imagined anybody would do it. If you can imagine that somebody can fake a police car, and not only do it but do it easily and cheaply, then you're more likely to be able to defend against it. If this kind of story gets covered up, people never consider that the car stopping them might be a fake. I've always considered the computer thing about the source code to be specious. Any modern computer setup must be designed so that it is secure even if somebody knows how it works. Even if the source code is not available, if somebody wants (for example) to crack Windows NT, they can get a copy and rip it apart trying to figure out vulnerabilities before trying a real attack on a real target. What kind of system isn't safe if the source code is exposed? One where the source includes passwords? (I gather this is kind of what happened with deCSS, the thing to decode video from DVDs... a particularly slack implementation of a software DVD player left some encryption keys out in plaintext.)