Category: security

crypto, policy, security, web3 Comments

intelligently designing trust

benadida

For the past week, every security expert’s been talking about Comodo-Gate. I find it fascinating: Comodo-Gate goes to the core of how we handle trust and how web architecture evolves. And in the end, this crisis provides a rare opportunity. warning signs Last year, Chris Soghoian and Sid Stamm published a paper, Certified Lies [PDF], which identified the very issue that is at the center of this week’s crisis. Matt Blaze provided, as usual, a fantastic explanation: A decade ago, I observed that commercial certificate authorities protect you from anyone from whom they are unwilling to take money. That turns … Continue reading intelligently designing trust

privacy, security, web5 Comments

the difference between privacy and security

benadida

Facebook today rolled out new security features, both of which are awesome: SSL everywhere, and social re-authentication. True, SSL everywhere should probably be a default, even though I continue to believe that the cost is significantly underestimated by many privacy advocates. Regardless, this announcement is great news. The only nitpick I have, and I point it out because I think it’s significant in Facebook’s case, is that the announcement confuses privacy and security. The first paragraph mentions Data Privacy Day, then the general concept of controlling your data, then transitions to the new security features. But those are quite different. … Continue reading the difference between privacy and security

crypto, privacy, security, voting

Crisis in the Java Community… could they have used a secret-ballot election?

benadida

There is a bit of a crisis in the Java community: the Apache Foundation just resigned its seat on the Java Executive Committee, as did two individual members, Doug Lea and Tim Peierls. From what I understand, the central issue appears to be that Oracle, the new Java “owner” since they acquired Sun Microsystems, is paying lip service to the Java Community while taking the language and, more importantly, its licensing, into the direction they prefer, which doesn’t appear to be very open-source friendly. That said, I’m not a Java Community expert, so I won’t comment much more on this … Continue reading Crisis in the Java Community… could they have used a secret-ballot election?

security, web5 Comments

OK, let’s work to make SSL easier for everyone

benadida

So in the wake of the FireSheep situation, which I described yesterday, the tech world is filled with people talking past each other on one important topic: should we just switch everything over to SSL? As I stated yesterday, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. I would love to be wrong, because certainly if we could switch to SSL for everything, the Web would be significantly more secure. I just don’t think it’s going to be that easy. But let’s explore this a bit, because I think most people agree that there would be tremendous benefits. A … Continue reading OK, let’s work to make SSL easier for everyone

crypto, security, web18 Comments

keep your hands off my session cookies

benadida

For years, security folks — myself included — have warned about the risk of personalized web sites such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc. being served over plain HTTP, as opposed to the more secure HTTPS, especially given the proliferation of open wifi networks. But warnings from security freaks rarely get people’s attention. A demonstration is worth a lot more, and that’s exactly what Eric Butler did with FireSheep, a Firefox plugin that lets you instantly see who on your local network is surfing well-known sites, grab their unencrypted cookie, and “become” them on the given site. Nice work Eric! (I … Continue reading keep your hands off my session cookies

security, voting4 Comments

faulty logic, even for good, is still faulty

benadida

So Alex Halderman and team hacked the DC Internet Voting pilot. The voting system they attacked was not particularly well secured, and the type of attack used is a fairly simple web input corruption attack with little novelty. This hack, however, performs a very useful task: educating election officials and the public about what hacks against an Internet Voting System look like. What happens next is going to be very interesting. The folks who have been fighting hard against Internet Voting should be careful not to use the same faulty logic they’ve been criticizing for years. When the discussion was … Continue reading faulty logic, even for good, is still faulty

security, voting2 Comments

Fort Knox vs. the Barking Dog

benadida

Over the last few days, Alex Halderman and his team at the University of Michigan hacked an Internet Voting System being field-tested by the DC Board of Elections. First, we need to commend both Alex’s team for their dutiful analysis of this system, and, more importantly, the DC Board of Elections for running an open security evaluation of their system. I say “more importantly” because there is very little good press to gain from such a test: in fact the DC Board of Elections is already getting a lot of grief, the hah-hah-they-got-haxored articles just write themselves. I think they … Continue reading Fort Knox vs. the Barking Dog