RE: CRIME FW: @Stake pulls pin on Geer: Effect on research and publication

From: Bill.McCall@private
Date: Wed Oct 08 2003 - 08:58:53 PDT

  • Next message: Alan: "RE: CRIME FW: @Stake pulls pin on Geer: Effect on research and publication"

    Perhaps in the vendor world the monoculture is 'easily mitigated by a variety of third party products', but for the millions of unskilled home users the security problem is pretty much completely beyond their scope of comprehension.  I don't see home users practicing defense in depth and subscribing to lists to maintain their security awareness.  And except in vendor $$dreams, I don't see these people buying the third party products to any great degree.  
    
    This leaves us with the monoculture with the risk that everyone acknowledges.  
    
    
    
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Andrew Plato [mailto:aplato@private]
    Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 8:37 AM
    To: crime@private
    Cc: John McHugh
    Subject: RE: CRIME FW: @Stake pulls pin on Geer: Effect on research and
    publication
    
    
    > I think Andrew misses the point of the Geer, et. al. paper.  The fact
    > that many sites can limit the damage caused by an exploit through the 
    > use of third party solutions and/or good hygiene does not really solve
    
    > the problem...Even though it is possible for 
    > clueful people to limit damage to their own sites, there is evidence 
    > that many sites do not and the fact that these sites largely represent
    
    > a monoculture makes them an attractive target for worm and virus 
    > writers.
    
    Let's break down Geer's (et al) premises: 
    
    1. A monoculture exists. 
    
    2. This monoculture has risks.
    
    3. The monoculture is bad and should be changed. 
    
    The first point is sound. Yes, a monoculture exists. No debate there. 
    
    The second point is partially correct. In a vacuum, yes, the monoculture
    has risks. But this monoculture does not exist in a vacuum. It must
    interpolate with thousands of different systems. So those risks are not
    a grave as the paper suggests.  
    
    The third point is absurd. It flies in the face of decades of security
    reasoning that says, when you have risks - mitigate them. Rather than
    focus on the risks, Geer focuses on the environment where those risks
    exist. And rather than talk about mitigating the risks, the paper
    suggests that we need to fundamentally alter the environment (i.e. bust
    up Microsoft.)
    
    This premise totally ignores the numerous 3rd party products that are
    NOT dependent on that monoculture that can secure it. So, while the
    monoculture might have risks, they are easily mitigated risks. Hence,
    this premise is flawed. It ignores one of the most salient concepts in
    security: risk mitigation.
    
    What is funny, is that many of the co-authors of Geer's paper, have
    written other material that champions the concepts of risk mitigation
    and building security processes. For example, in Secrets and Lies, Bruce
    Schneier writes extensively about how security is a process and that
    real-world security must practice defense in depth.
    
    Apparently, those good ideas never made it into this paper. 
    
    The simple fact is, whatever risks the monoculture has, can be easily
    mitigated with the use of a diverse array of technologies that help
    secure Windows. This paper totally, utterly ignores those mitigating
    technologies as well as risk-mitigation as a concept. As such, I
    consider the paper's conclusions as flawed. They're not based on
    real-world analysis, but theories that happen to fit an agenda. 
    
    Furthermore, if the real problem is that many systems in this
    monoculture are left unpatched or unsecured, then clearly the problem
    isn't the systems or the company that makes the OS - it's the people and
    organizations that use them. When somebody fails to act responsible with
    a car and hurts another person, we don't shut down the car manufacturer.
    We put the irresponsible person in jail. If you use a computer and
    connect to a public space, you have a responsibility to secure those
    systems. If you don't, then you will pay the consequences as will others
    in that public space. 
    
    Thus the reasonable and rational conclusion to Geer's initial concept of
    the monoculture is: 
    
    1. A monoculture exists. 
    2. Unfortunately, a monoculture has risks.
    3. Those risks need mitigation and/or elimination. 
    4. Fortunately, there are technologies and practices that can mitigate
    and eliminate the risks of a monoculture reasonably easily. (i.e. use
    firewalls, IPS, AV, compartmentalize systems, etc.)
    5. People and organizations need to take responsibility for their
    systems and secure them to ensure the risks of the monoculture are
    minimized. 
    
    That is a sound argument. Rational and practical. 
    
    > For a possible approach that preserves the M**t functionality that we
    > all love (or hate) you might take a look at the current BAA 03-44 
    > (research announcement) from DARPA.
    > Among other things, this seeks ways to create large numbers of
    variants 
    > of functionally equivalent programs.  Suppose that there were 1000 
    > different versions of, say, IIS, each requiring a different buffer 
    > overflow exploit, but appearing identical in function and performance 
    > to the user.  
    
    I didn't read the announcement in detail, but it sounds like a
    ridiculously complex answer to security problems. And that would defeat
    the concepts of "simplicity." 
    
    ___________________________________
    Andrew Plato, CISSP
    President/Principal Consultant
    Anitian Enterprise Security 
     
    503-644-5656 Office
    503-644-8574 Fax
    503-201-0821 Mobile
    www.anitian.com
    ___________________________________ 
    
    
    
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