in reply to Re: Re: (OT) Giving users what they want / My mail administration dilemma
in thread (OT) Giving users what they want / My mail administration dilemma

'Security through Obscurity' , more people know how to crack a linux than a irix box.

As it stands today, the entire security industry is obscurity. From passwords to cryptography it is all reliant on obscurity. You just need the proper amount of obscurity to minimize the risks for the job at hand.

Not the greatest example, but do a search for department of defense webstar and see what pops up.

  • Comment on Re: Re: Re: (OT) Giving users what they want / My mail administration dilemma

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Re: Re: Re: Re: (OT) Giving users what they want / My mail administration dilemma
by herveus (Prior) on Feb 19, 2003 at 15:16 UTC
    Howdy!

    "Security through obscurity" refers to the concept of hiding the mechanisms that provide the security rather than key security. If everyone can find out how the lock works, weaknesses in the mechanism become exposed. If knowing how the lock works does not make discerning a specific key usefully easier, the lock is that much stronger.

    Now, using secrecy laws to try to obscure the innards of crypto gear does arguably fall under that term.

    Securing passwords (keys) does not constitute "security through obscurity". Deliberately opting to stay with an old, less well known system because less people are familiar with cracking it does constitute "security through obscurity". I hope you see the difference.

    yours,
    Michael

[reply]

      ++herveus for a succinct slaying of general misunderstanding, but I doubt that post is anything but a troll. Seriously, would you read all the way down and OT thread, only to comment on one reply, that was even more OT than the original post?!


      you can't polish a turd
[reply]

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