From: TruthMonger <tm@dev.null>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 1997 16:37:55 +0800
To: Greg Broiles <gbroiles@netbox.com>
Subject: Re: Security flaws introduced by "other readers" in CMR
In-Reply-To: <3.0.3.32.19971015183740.008cad00@mail.io.com>
Message-ID: <3445CF62.B84@dev.null>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Greg Broiled:
> As Jon Callas confirmed at the recent Cpunks physical meeting, the current
> CAK/CAM/whatever system has very weak code re policy enforcement - for
> example, it'll allow otherwise forbidden messages to pass through its
> filters if even the "--- BEGIN PGP MESSAGE ---" lines are altered or
> removed. It won't disassemble tar or zip or uuencode packages, or otherwise
> attempt to discover simple attempts to bypass the enforcement mechanisms.
> They're not trying to stop determined covert communicators - that's not
> their threat model.

  Yes, I am a lunatic, but I'm really not in that bad of shape when
compared to the 'normal' people.
  I once worked with a 'state of the art' alarm security company. They
had all the hi-tech toys, including a special 'goo' covering the
proprietary computer chip, so that it would be destroyed if anyone
messed with it.
  We installed 'the works' in a Royal Bank in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan,
in my first week of employment, and I was with the head guy when he
finished off the job by taking me upstairs and showing me how to
tie into the phone line so the system could automatically notify
the local gendarmes when the alarms got tripped.
  As we 'finished the job,' I noticed that there was a door to the
outside, beside the power and phone boxes, which did not have a 'trip
plate' on it. I mentioned it to Mr. Head Guy, who looked at his
work order and said, "Not in the contract." We 'finished the job'
and left.
  If you are ever in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, drop by the Royal Bank,
climb the fire escape up to the roof, kick the fucking door down and
go grab yourself a handful of cash. (It is not *quite* that simple,
in case you are wondering.)

  I also know a man in Tucson, Arizona, who installed a $10,000 home
security system and then cut the wire to the alarm bell, because it
was too loud.

  I recognize the dangers inherent in PGP's move toward Corporate
Message Recovery, but I also recognize that there will be a thousand
Joe Schmoe's adversely affected by it for every CypherPunk who gets
backdoored as a result of misuse of the technology.
  I think that it is admirable that a number of CypherPunks are railing
loudly against something which is more likely to bring other people to
grief, rather than themselves.

  I truly believe that PGP has made some serious errors in their
current implementation of Corporate security software, but it is
something that is indeed coming, like it or not, and I have more
confidence that there may be better hope for proper changes in the 
package in the future, than I would in the 'Pretty Louis Freeh 
Privacy' software company was the first to develop the technology.

My advice? (Thanks for asking...)

1. Help to install/develop the package at companies which are run
 by decent humans, and truly have good intentions. Explain the pros
and cons to them, and what you feel are moral areas to consider 
before making changes in your suggested modus operandi.
   Oh yes...and put in a back door, or some such, so that you may
have a chance to make necessary changes if the situation changes 
in the future.

2. Help to install/develop the package at companies which need it
 and will get some such program in the future, regardless of the
 ethical functionality of the package. Explain your feelings in 
 regard to the ethics of control versus privacy and try to help
 them understand that basic human decency is in their long-term
 interest.
  Put in *several* back doors, so that you can route around any
damage they cause by putting profits ahead of ethics.

3. Help to install/develop the package at companies which have
 the worst of fascist, evil intentions. Don't bother explaining
 the ethical issues, as they will only use them as guidelines to
 do the opposite.
   Put a time-bomb in the son-of-a-bitch which will explode in
 a few months time and put them completely out of business.

  I have put some type of backdoor in *every* product I have
developed. I have used the backdoor *once*, in order to rescue
a company from their own stupidity.
  I did not inform them of my 'fix,' but let them believe that
the system 'fixed itself.' (Right...it happens all the time...)
If I *had* informed them that I had fixed their fuck-up via a
backdoor I had built in, I have no doubt they would have thanked
me profusely for my foresight, and then demanded that I remove
the backdoor.

  There was one application I developed that had the potential
to make me a very rich person if I chose to misuse a backdoor
in the future. I had to sit down, recognize the temptation and
my own weakness, and decide if it was still in my client's best
interest if I installed a back door in the product.
  The company out-and-out screwed me out of several thousand
dollars at the end of the project, and I am rather proud to
report that I considered and rejected the use of the backdoor
I installed in order to 'enforce' *justice* (and it took less
than a minute to decide it was not worth 'taking the chance' of
being wrong, and therefore a thief--or being 'right' and still
being a thief).

  I am proud of the CypherPunks who are speaking their mind, even
if it means aligning themselves against the Holy Grail of privacy
and security. 
  I believe that we should rail loud and long against those things
which we perceive to be against the interests of the privacy and
security of the individual cogs in the corporate machinery, but
should still promote the interests of a company which is probably
the best horse to back, even if there are no future guarantees.
  I also believe that we should search hard and long for ways to
throw a serious fuck into said program, just in case...

  I have already found one exploitable weakness in PGP's CMR
implementation, which shall remain my own secret.
  Any further exploitable weaknesses I find will be shared with
others, privately.

  I wish that Viacrypt had not tied their CMR software to PGP's
reputation, since it is a product based on a different concept,
but I also wish that I had picked different numbers for last
week's million dollar lottery.
  I am willing to give Viacrypt time to recognize whether or not
they have compromised ethics to a certain extent, in return for
convenience and market position. I try not to 'Nuke the bastards!'
on a whim, but I am always ready and willing to do so if it 
becomes undeniably clear that it is time to take a stand.

  I would like to thank those who have spoken out on both sides
of the issue involved, particularly in light of their willingness
to seek and listen to alternative viewpoints. I hate having to
sort through people's righteously held prejudices in order to
get to the fruits of their analytic labors.
  The issues involved in Viacrypt's choice of direction and their
chosen implementation of corporate security software is truly a
nadir point in encryption development. It is too important an
issue for any of us to take a predetermined stance in order to
defend our private points of view and predilections.

  'Schindler's List' provided an excellent viewpoint of things not
always being what they seem, or not ending up the way they started
out. At the same time, the film may be a bogus representation of 
the true facts of life involved in the situation.
  A different approach by Schindler may have resulted in a better 
or worse resolution to the events, and we shall never know, but I
do believe that the man did the best that he could.

  I plan on doing the best I can to further the spread of strong
encryption, regardless of whether or not any particular product
or implementation makes me nervous at a certain stage of its
development.
  However, I truly hope that, if I am in error, someone believing
and doing the exact opposite of myself will prevail. 

  Besides death and taxes, there is one other thing that I think
is undeniably certain...world events are changing at such an
increasingly fast pace that, regardless of the direction the 
future takes, it is *not* going to be boring.

TruthMonger