Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX
From: "Marcus J. Ranum" <mjr () nfr net>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 14:04:50 -0400
| I remember the bounty, but I guess I missed Adam's arguments (in fact I | recall it being a thread stopper :). What kind of cluelessness are we | talking about? I suggested that the use of a 48 bit, unpublished cryptosystem was sufficiently backdoor-esque and provable that MJR should send me a check. It was done with tounge firmly planted in cheek (although I probably pushed hard for the money; its the principle of winning a challenge from Marcus, more than a belief that it was a backdoor. :)
Using a cheap-crap proprietary cryptosystem to manage a firewall is unforgivably stupid. But I don't think it counts as a trapdoor because they didn't try to hide it and it's a trapdoor that will work for *anyone* who wants to hook up enough PCs to break the key. To get my check, I want to see a smoking gun. All the rumor-mongers talk like there is one, but amazingly nobody comes forward with one. I'm sure that if someone actually found one they'd be thrilled to be able to get their 15 minutes of fame by owning the key to a significant percentage of the firewalls on the Internet. Those kinds of things are hard to keep secret for very long. What's aggravating about the whole thing is that I've had otherwise should-be-clueful technologists *assert* that there is one and then stare at me like I'm nuts when I say, "so show me!" There have been folks who've told me flat out, "we had this consultant here and he said he knows there is one." "Did he show you?" "No, he said it was found by The Government but it's top secret." Yeah, right. It's really mind-boggling. I'm not especially well-connected, but I'm quite sure that I'd hear about it from the proper channels if there was proof of such a thing. This rumor has been floating for 3 years now and not a single shred of proof has surfaced. mjr. -- Marcus J. Ranum, CEO, Network Flight Recorder, Inc. work - http://www.nfr.net home - http://www.clark.net/pub/mjr
Current thread:
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX, (continued)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Chris Brenton (Sep 17)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Calvin Ng (Sep 17)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Jason L. Snowden (Sep 22)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Marcus J. Ranum (Sep 23)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Henry Hertz Hobbit (Sep 24)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Darren Reed (Sep 24)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Joseph S. D. Yao (Sep 24)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Adam Shostack (Sep 25)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Marcus J. Ranum (Sep 23)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Kevin Steves (Sep 29)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Adam Shostack (Sep 29)
- Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Marcus J. Ranum (Sep 29)
- BorderManager, was Re: FW-1: Questions about DHCP and IPX Kjell Wooding (Sep 24)