TCP flaw threatens Net data transmissions

TalkBack 20 of 24:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

Nice thought, but irrelevant

The "thousands of eyes" is irrelevant to this defect.

Why? Because this isn't something it's likely that developers would have ever spotted. This type of problem is a problem of architecture and design, not coding or implementation.

It took a mathematician to spot the possibility and devise the tests. The original designers, given a flash of foresight to the scope and breadth of the modern internet (which they can be forgiven for failing to foresee) might have double-checked their algorithms to make sure that sequence-numbers weren't guessable; but with 20:20 hindsight, all we can do is guess at *that*.

And actually, it can be argued that "thousands of eyes" were part of the solution, here. People have been looking at the TCP stack for many years, but only now has Paul [?] Watson found this defect. He found it, because he was able to have unfettered access to the stack. The myriad commercial developers who've worked on the TCP stack over the decades haven't spotted it; it's logical to assume that the probability of this ever having been found would *decrease* if it were a close-source, proprietary application....

Posted by: escoles@...   Posted on: 04/21/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• VMware Infrastructure: A Guide to Bottom-Line Benefits VMware Frustrated by the costs of maintain ever larger data centers?or building ... Download Now
• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now
• The True Costs of Virtual Server Solutions VMware In an economic environment that is repeatedly heralding the message "do ... Download Now