Firewall Wizards mailing list archives
RE: Security of HTTPS
From: "Marcus J. Ranum" <mjr () ranum com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 09:01:54 -0500
Ben Nagy wrote:
I don't know if this is a troll. If you're some super advanced crypto-protocol guy trying to send a minimalist email, I may have been fooled.
Usually, when I see one of these: "Hello, I have an [absolute beginner question]. Can you compare [obvious security newbie thing] with [other obvious security newbie thing]?" I figure it's a college undergrad (or maybe a high school student) who is doing "research" for his/her homework. As one of the listed guardians of the firewalls FAQ I get 5 or 6 of these a year. Sometimes they are honest enough to add, "I am researching this topic for my thesis" or whatever. Now that teachers have gotten smart enough to research potential plagiarism using google, lamer students have reacted by social engineering mailing lists in order to obtain custom text or pointers. When I was moderating firewall-wizards I dealt with this by simply not letting ultra-basic questions through. Basically, it's an insult to the readers of the list to waste their time on behalf of some utter lamer who is too lazy to even type: www.google.com "search string here" <return> This is one response I gave to one of the more obvious trolls sent to firewalls-FAQ:
What forms can a firewall take like hardware, software?
Firewalls can be made out of hardware, software, or sponge material.
What are some common functions provided by a firewall?
Most firewalls only implement security. Some firewalls, however, can wash dishes or groom dogs. mjr. _______________________________________________ firewall-wizards mailing list firewall-wizards () honor icsalabs com http://honor.icsalabs.com/mailman/listinfo/firewall-wizards
Current thread:
- Security of HTTPS Alex Bihlmaier (Nov 22)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Ben Nagy (Nov 23)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Marcus J. Ranum (Nov 27)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Alex Bihlmaier (Nov 27)
- Re: Security of HTTPS Chuck Vose (Nov 27)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Marcus J. Ranum (Nov 27)
- RE: Security of HTTPS lordchariot (Nov 27)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Frank Knobbe (Nov 27)
- Re: Security of HTTPS Ng Pheng Siong (Nov 28)
- Re: Security of HTTPS Frank Knobbe (Nov 28)
- Re: Security of HTTPS Ng Pheng Siong (Nov 28)
- Re: Security of HTTPS Frank Knobbe (Nov 28)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Frank Knobbe (Nov 27)
- RE: Security of HTTPS Ben Nagy (Nov 23)
- Re: Security of HTTPS Kevin Sheldrake (Nov 28)