Re: "the net"... campus-type links, and conceptualizing remote data

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: September 15, 2009 9:14:01 AM EDT
To: Richard Bennett <richard () bennett com>
Cc: Gordon Peterson <gep2 () terabites com>, Dan Lynch <dan () lynch com>,  
Dave Crocker <dcrocker () bbiw net>, Dave Farber <dave () farber net>, ip <ip () v2 listbox com 
>, John Shoch <shoch () alloyventures com>, Harold Burstyn <burstynh () iname com 
>, Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>, Paul Robichaux <paul () robichaux net 
>, Steve Crocker <steve () shinkuro com>
Subject: Re: [IP] "the net"... campus-type links, and conceptualizing  
remote data

Interesting points.   However, the idea that "security" could have  
been provided in 802.11 is not a sensible argument.

Security is not a property of the network elements.  It is a property  
of how they are used.  Wisely, the 802.11 crew provided only the  
option of "wired-equivalent" security.   And that was because of a  
competitive need - there were actually people who claimed that wired  
networks were "secure" (a real joke that persists to this day).

Those of us who labored in the vineyards of computer and  
communications security for real stakes know that protecting a link is  
an minor optimization - not to be confused with operational security  
of either the network as a whole or the users' data and operations.   
That doesn't prevent marketers and less-clueful engineers from making  
"security" claims for their gear.

In fact, one could try to make the claim that "had the 802.11  
committee NOT put faux security into the 802.11 standard, we'd have  
end-to-end secure systems today based on better key management,  
network management protocols that are properly secured, etc."

As evidence: what level of security is required by the "web based" or  
"SNMP-based" management consoles for user NAT boxes or corporate WLAN  
boxes?   In their default configuration?  In the "most secure  
configuration"?

cheaper end-to-end encryption (at least at the level of SSL) should  
have been deployed a lot sooner.  It would have, if the architectural  
proposals of the Internet community were taken more seriously.




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