Re: Proxies, opensource and the general market: what's wrong with us?

[Darren Reed <darren.reed () oracle com>]

On  2/05/11 08:51 AM, ArkanoiD wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 12:50:35PM -0700, Darren Reed wrote:
> > I think that what's happened is the relevant open source
> > security tools for today are no longer proxies or packet
> > filters but plugins for your web browser.
>
> [skipped]
>
> Sure. But I still do not see why does it affect firewalls, which are
> still there.

What's sexy about working on an open source firewall
thing that a few people might download and use vs
working on a plugin for firefox that gets 100,000
downloads every month?

Perhaps a more relevant problem to consider is that
as we (as a society) move to accessing the Internet
directly, from devices such as our phones, the threat
model and solutions used to address that need to be
rethought in the context of what the device's operating
system needs to have running and protected.

Somewhat amusingly, a security vulnerability in the
OpenBSD pf firewall software that is used by Apple
on its iPhones resulted in a jailbreak vulnerability.

The base level of firewall capability has advanced
far enough that most people don't need more than
what they get out of the bit of hardware that does
it for them. And since need is the mother of
invention, there's no compulsion to advance the
art/feature/etc.

Darren

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