Re: Penetration testing via shrinkware

["Stephen P. Berry" <spb () incyte com>]

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> What does this mish-mash of observations tell us?  Nothing new.  The
> art of software development is still in its childhood.  Programmers
> abound, but software engineers - or programmers who use a software
> engineering approach - are few and far between.  There is no method
> that is "foolproof"; and if one existed, it probably wouldn't be
> "damfoolproof".  Peer review is wonderful, but first you need (a)
> something against which to review (specifications?  design?), (b)
> perhaps a methodology, (c) certainly a methodological approach, and (d)
> probably some talent.

And of course all of this doesn't just apply to software development
but more generally to all fields related to the design, implimentation
and review of network security applications.


> And formal proofs are behind even that curve.

This is another one of those moments when I think there ought
to be two separate lists:  firewalls-theory and firewalls-practice.  To
tell the truth, even if there was a schema for formally proving a
system secure (mod whatever process definition of `secure' the
schema posits), I would remain unconvinced of the real-world utility of
such a proof, excepting the possible placebo effect on The Mgmt.

Okay, _ceteris paribus_ it would be nice to know that one box was
provably `secure' whereas some other box is not.  But what does this
actually tell us?  It tells me the same thing when the provably `secure'
whatsit is a firewall as when the whatsit is a cryptosystem---the weak
spot is going to be between the ears or in the pressure-points of the
folks at either end.

Put another way, you could probably better improve the security of
computer systems in general by burning all PostIt notes than by eliminating
all software bugs.  Well, that's probably a little too fortune(6)-ish
to be absolutely true, but you get the idea.






- -Steve


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