nanog mailing list archives

Re: How to fix authentication (was LinkedIn)


From: AP NANOG <nanog () armoredpackets com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 09:30:02 -0400

Kyle,

I may be mistaken here, but I don't believe anyone is truly laughing the matter off.

There may have been some remarks about second or third parties, but the fact does remain these are the areas which current concerns still lay.

--

Robert Miller
(arch3angel)

On 6/24/12 1:02 AM, Kyle Creyts wrote:
I would suggest that multiple models be pursued (since each appears to have
a champion) and that the market/drafting process will resolve the issue of
which is better (which is okay by me:  widespread adoption of any of the
proposed models would advance the state of the norm; progress beats the
snot out of stagnation in my book)

My earlier replies were reprehensible. This is not a thread that should
just be laughed off. Real progress may be occurring here, and at the least,
good knowledge and discussion is accumulating in a way which may serve as a
resource for the curious or concerned.
On Jun 22, 2012 7:25 AM, "Leo Bicknell" <bicknell () ufp org> wrote:

In a message written on Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 04:48:47PM -1000, Randy Bush
wrote:
there are no trustable third parties
With a lot of transactions the second party isn't trustable, and
sometimes the first party isn't as well. :)

In a message written on Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 10:53:18PM -0400, Christopher
Morrow wrote:
note that yubico has models of auth that include:
   1) using a third party
   2) making your own party
   3) HOTP on token
   4) NFC

they are a good company, trying to do the right thing(s)... They also
don't necessarily want you to be stuck in the 'get your answer from
another'
Requirements of hardware or a third party are fine for the corporate
world, or sites that make enough money or have enough risk to invest
in security, like a bank.

Requiring hardware for a site like Facebook or Twitter is right
out.  Does not scale, can't ship to the guy in Pakistan or McMurdo
who wants to sign up.  Trusting a third party becomes too expensive,
and too big of a business risk.

There are levels of security here.  I don't expect Facebook to take
the same security steps as my bank to move my money around.  One
size does not fit all.  Making it so a hacker can't get 10 million
login credentials at once is a quantum leap forward even if doing
so doesn't improve security in any other way.

The perfect is the enemy of the good.

--
       Leo Bicknell - bicknell () ufp org - CCIE 3440
        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/



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