Re: This just in: Firewalls are obsolete

[dan () geer org]

Our design goal for Project Athena (MIT, 1985-1990)
was precisely that -- you are not done until your
platform can sit naked on the Internet.  For many
(many) years, MIT had no firewalls at all and today
has a defensive perimeter organized around vandalism
like DDoS rather than protection.  Lawrence Berkeley
Labs did the same though I do not know today's status
there.  In general, if you can presume sentient owners
and operators then eschew perimeter protections.  If
you have owners and operators who are bumpkins or
hail from a family of liability lawyers, then at least
make a good show of protecting them.  At MIT, we did
enjoy sentient owners and operators -- enough so that
for years we published the root password in the same
spirit that your hair dryer says "no user serviceable
parts inside" directly above the phillips-head screws
that open the case.

--dan

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