Cerf Questions US Cyber-Security Proposal

from the nice-plan,-does-it-work? dept

Vinton Cerf, a founding father of the internet, is questioning the President's cyber-security plan that talks about forcing software makers to force patches on users. He points out that it's unlikely to work - and if anyone could figure out a way to make it work, he would be at the top of the list. From my perspective, I would think that such a system would simply open up a much bigger vulnerability, since some hacker could then figure out a way to spoof a patch, and suddenly could take over many more machines than they could otherwise. Cerf also challenges the government's idea to create an entirely separate interent just for themselves. He says that some clueless users will connect a computer to both networks, and that will be the end of that.
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  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Dec 2001 @ 2:43am

    No Subject Given

    The first thing to remember is that Vint is, despite having invented IP or whatever 30 years ago, not that smart of a guy. Didn't he predict the internet was going to explode in 1998? Has anything this guy said since he stopped designing networking protocols and become a pundit come true?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Duffman, 14 Dec 2001 @ 10:44am

    I agree with the last comment

    I've worked for the government using a 'secure' network and a non-secure network. This summer, when SirCam exploded, we got an email saying be careful on the non-secure network (the Internet). A couple weeks later, we got an email saying that SirCam had 'made its way' over to the secure network. Since they were separate machines, only way it could've made it was someone who thought they were all smart. I also agree the patch idea is stupid.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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