>>> Lincoln Stein wrote > The original article did suggest incorporating the IP address and a > timestamp in the hash function. The main point of the article was > that using just the Referer field for security was a very bad idea. > > I sure hope this thread will be killed soon! Um - sorry ;) One comment I wanted to make re: web security - if you're relying on the IP number of the machine requesting the file for any sort of security, then you'll break your web site for anyone using multiple proxies. In .au, this is especially a problem, as we have some fairly large hierarchies of proxy servers - for a lot of our users, a single web 'session' can generate requests from multiple different boxes, as different proxies react faster for each request. Sorry to extend the thread, but people trying to tie web security down to originator IP number is a pet hate of mine ;/ KevinL > > Lincoln > > David Schwartz writes: > > > > You should also be including a timestamp and an originator IP in the hash > > function. Otherwise you are vulnerable to interception and replay attacks. > > If you're going to do it, you might as well do it right. > > > > DS > > > > > Even though I wrote this, it turns out that this isn't the best way to > > > compute a message authentication code (MAC). A more secure technique > > > is this: > > > > > > $hash=MD5->hexhash($secret . MD5->hexhash("$secret @untamperable > > > @consistency")) > > > > > > I explain the problems with the original scheme in the October issue > > > of Web Techniques. > > > > > > Lincoln > > > > > > -- > > > ======================================================================== > > > Lincoln D. Stein Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory > > > lsteinat_private Cold Spring Harbor, NY > > > ======================================================================== > > > > -- > ======================================================================== > Lincoln D. Stein Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory > lsteinat_private Cold Spring Harbor, NY > ======================================================================== > --------------- qnevhfat_private --------------- Kevin Littlejohn, Development Engineer, Connect.com.au ----------- Oernxf guvatf sbe n yvivat -----------
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