RE: Re: Castles and Security

[Smith Gary-GSMITH1 <Gary.R.Smith () motorola com>]

Regarding November 5th:

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Day in the UK.

Nearly four hundred years ago, in 1605, a man named Guy Fawkes tried to blow
up a government building. He wanted to kill King James I and the king's
leaders. Fawkes was one of a group of men who felt that the government was
treating Roman Catholics unfairly.

The king and his leaders were to meet on November 5. So, the group placed
barrels of gunpowder in a cellar beneath the building where the king and
others were to meet. Guy Fawkes was to light the fuse that would set off the
explosion. But the plot was discovered before he had a chance to do this.
The king was saved, and Fawkes was hanged.

Ever since, Guy Fawkes Day has been a time for merrymaking. It is a holiday
that both children and grown-ups enjoy. The best part comes as darkness
falls. Then, straw dummies are tossed into huge bonfires. Amid cries of
glee, firecrackers pop and "the Guy" goes up in a blaze of fire.

-----Original Message-----
From: Duquette, John [mailto:john.duquette () eds com]
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2001 11:51 AM
To: Karl Wolfgang; firewall-wizards () nfr com
Subject: RE: [fw-wiz] Re: Castles and Security


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I think what you are getting at is really the heart of the issue.

The Maginot line was built to fight the *previous* war.  It was a
super trench because the French military was gearing to refight WWI. 
The Germans were learning and preparing to fight a more mobile war so
instead of throwing their troops at the fortifications, they went
around them quickly.  Remember the French considered the Argonne
forest impenetrable, which the Germans demonstrated to be false. 
Whether you want to use the castle or terrorist analogy there is one
common truth.  The attacker ALWAYS has the advantage and the element
of surprise.

Most current network security practices are geared at defending
against what has already happened and is known, not what might
happen.

Many of our customers *still* think that you only need to look at
their firewall.  Trying to convince them that they need to look at
everything can be like arguing with a drunk.

john

And I'll bite on one more thing, what relevance does Nov. 5 have to
any of this?

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Karl Wolfgang [mailto:karl_wolfgang () hotmail com]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2001 9:06 PM
> To: firewall-wizards () nfr com
> Subject: [fw-wiz] Re: Castles and Security
>
>
> 1.  The "bastion host" / reinforced firewall concept may go 
> the way of 
> castles and the Maginot Line if dynamic defenses are not put 
> in place.  
> Clausewitz stated "If you entrench yourself behind strong 
> fortifications, 
> you compel the enemy to seek a solution elsewhere".
>
> 2.  Application programmers have begun to place other 
> protocols within HTTP 
> and HTTPS, which are allowed through most firewalls. This 
> protocol tunneling 
> means that, unless very aggressive proxies are available with 
> a firewall, it 
> won't be as effective.
>
> 3.  Telecommuter / home systems are notoriously lax on 
> desktop security.  A 
> personnel DSL connection to the Internet with static IP 
> coupled with VPN 
> tunnel into a protected network provide the devil's 
> playground for a repeat 
> of a Microsoft / QAZ exploit or something similar.

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