oss-security - Re: Closed list

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Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 22:13:05 -0400
From: "Mike O'Connor" <mjo@...o.mi.org>
To: oss-security@...ts.openwall.com
Subject: Re: Closed list

:> Should we require members use a mail address from their vendor? Letting
:> people use personal addresses creates an opportunity for people to remain
:> on a list when they are no longer a part of a given vendor (it also makes
:> it quite easy to know who represents a vendor).
:>
:
:Yes, I think this should be a requirement for a closed coordination
:list (as opposed to the more relaxed option #2).  In fact, I think

I use my personal address rather than my work address for handling
vendor security matters because:

a) My personal address is more secure and auditable by me.  I control
   my encrypted filesystems, the SMTP and primary DNS servers, Internet
   connectivity up to an IXP, AS route announcements of IP space I
   control, etc.  When there were leaks with vendor-sec, I could
   readily validate that I wasn't leaking.  I'd be far less able to
   do so if mails were routed through my employer's infrastructure.  

   -and-

b) My personal address has infrastructure that doesn't suck.  It's 
   much better able to cope with virus and spam outbreaks, without 
   silently stripping out emails because some attachment contain the
   wrong file extension for the spam firewall that day.  Being behind
   some god-awful Exchange server, because it's how the IT folks tie
   corporate-issue email to corporate-issue smart phones...  BARF!

Also, the "no longer part of a given vendor" threat assumes that the
vendor won't keep the email address active after the person associated
with it has left.  I know of one case where that wasn't true, where the
address was tied to "outside world" security stuff since the employee
wouldn't/couldn't/didn't use a "role account" consistently.  (And yeah, 
I was given his PGP pass phrase for his work email, too...  <groan>)

The vetting should be about more than email domains.  There should be
periodic maintenance of who's on the list to cull out those who aren't
involved.  Marcus did that to some degree with the vendor-sec of old.
I think the biggest problems there were the exploders and the lack of
encryption, and both of those are being addressed with this new list
as I understand things.

:In a nutshell, I think this list needs to decide what its purpose is.
:If it's for coordination for vulnerability disclosure, then its
:membership should be kept to those who actually need to do the
:coordination.  If it's for private (or semi-private) discussion of
:potentially sensitive research, knowledge sharing, etc., then its
:membership should be expanded to include representation from software
:vendors and researchers.

I think that having a couple lists, one for "tactical" issues (e.g.
embargoes and CVE assignment) and another for "strategic" discussions
(e.g. "how to deal with vagaries in gcc vs. C standards with general
security impact") may be appropriate.  I'm part of another security
community which has such a notion, and it seems to help in keeping
things focused, FWIW.

Thanks,
-Mike

-- 
 Michael J. O'Connor                                          mjo@...o.mi.org
 =--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--==--=
"A bachelor's life is no life for a single man."              -Samuel Goldwyn

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