Forwarded From: "Jay D. Dyson" <jdysonat_private> Originally From: Aleph One <aleph1at_private> This is a summary of the many (and I do mean many) replies. Thanks to everyone that contributed. Why do programmers write unsafe code? - - There is no curriculum that addresses computer security in most schools. - - Programming books/classes do not teach secure/safe programming techniques. - - No one uses formal verification methods. - - C is an unsafe language. - - The standard C library string functions are unsafe. - - Programmers do not think 'multiuser'. - - Programmers are human. Humans are lazy. - - Most programmers are simply not good programmers. - - Most programmers are not security people. - - Most security people are not programmers. - - Most computer security models suck. - - Lots of legacy code that is broken. - - Consumers don't care about security. - - Cost in extra developing time. - - Cost in extra testing. What secure programming resources are available? Conferences: SANS ID'99 "How Attackers Break Programs, and How to Write Programs Securely" by M. Bishop. < http://www.sans.org/ > Classes: UC David ECS153 "Introduction to Computer Security" (M. Bishop) EnGarde's Secure Programming Tutorial < http://engarde.com/tutorials/tutorials_secprog.html > Articles: "Designing Secure Software" by Peter Galvin < http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-04-1998/swol-04-security.html > "The Unix Secure Programming FAQ" by Peter Galvin < http://www.sunworld.com/sunworldonline/swol-08-1998/swol-08-security.html > "A Lab engineers check list for writing secure Unix code" by AUCERT < ftp://ftp.auscert.org.au/pub/auscert/papers/secure_programming_checklist > "How to find security holes" by Kragen Sitaker < http://www.dnaco.net/~kragen/security-holes.txt > < http://www.dnaco.net/~kragen/security-holes.html > "setuid - checklist for security of setuid programs" < http://www.homeport.org/~adam/setuid.7.html > "perlsec - Perl security" < ftp://ftp.digital.com/pub/plan/perl/CPAN/doc/manual/html/pod/perlsec.html > Papers: "Robust Programming" by M. Bishop < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/classes/ecs153-98-winter/robust.html > < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/classes/ecs153-98-winter/Pdf/robust.pdf > < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/classes/ecs153-98-winter/Postscript/robust.ps > "How to Write a Setuid Program" by M. Bishop < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/scriv/1986-loginv12n1.ps > "Security Code Review Guidelines" By Adam Shostack < http://www.homeport.org/~adam/review.html > Talks & Tutorials: "Writing Safe Privileged Programs" by M. Bishop < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/scriv/1997-ns97.pdf > < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/scriv/1997-ns97.ps > "UNIX Security: Security in Programming" by M. Bishop < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/scriv/1996-sans-tut.pdf > < http://seclab.cs.ucdavis.edu/~bishop/scriv/1996-sans-tut.ps > "Shifting the Odds: Writing (More) Secure Software" by Steve Bellovin < http://www.research.att.com/~smb/talks/odds.pdf > < http://www.research.att.com/~smb/talks/odds.ps > Books on writing secure software: "Practical Unix and Internet Security" from O'Reilly & Associates Chapter 22 "Writing Secure SUID and Network Programs" < http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/puis/ > Books on writing bug free software: "Writing Solid Code" by Steve Maguire < http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556155514/ref=sim_books/002-7935989-4651662 > "Code Complete" by Steve McConnel < http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556154844/o/qid=913914934/sr=2-1/002-7935989-4651662 > -o- Subscribe: mail majordomoat_private with "subscribe isn". Today's ISN Sponsor: Repent Security Incorporated [www.repsec.com]
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