Tuesday, March 22, 2005

The Internet Has No Security Architecture: Public Key Infrastructure And The Road To Secure Online Spaces

Robin Good posts a thought provoking piece of writing about internet security (or the lack of it). In fact he suggests that the notion of internet security is not possible to achieve in the current environment. Here's an example:

If you were a bank president and woke up one fine day to realize your bank had a secure vault door but no building around it, who would you call? A bank vault door technician? You'd call an architect, wouldn't you? You'd say, "Please start designing a building! When you're done I will give the plans to a contractor, and only after the contractor is on board will the two of you start contacting the vendors of sheet rock and framing materials and door locks and alarm systems and vault doors."

In other words the idea of trying to secure an open space with a vault door as is ridiculous as trying to secure your pc on the internet using the current tools; firewalls, virus and malware sweepers and the like.
The architectural approach begins with something called Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).

Read the full article to see how this remarkable tool could be used to help us design (architect) internet solutions that can provide security if the right professions get involved together.


Posted by: Jethro | 10:55 PM |