Re: encrypted source file support in jdk?
Roedy Green wrote:
On Sat, 29 Sep 2007 02:12:45 +0200, tom forsmo <spam@nospam.org>
wrote, quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
I know, its a complicated subject but I need to start somewhere and I
have a decent understanding of how to harden the linux kernel and the
running system. So thats going to help a lot to begin with. The next
thing I need to do is secure the actual tools used every day compilers.
IDEs etc, svn etc that may take some time, but Ill write it all down.
I will tell one little story here. I belonged to the Apple and PC
User societies.. Every month a vendor or two would come to give a
presentation on some new interesting product. Back in the 80s, some
guys came and demonstrated a file encryption system pointing out it
would take billions of years to crack it by brute force.
During the demo I cracked it, simply by fetching data out of deleted
files. They had failed to wipe the unencrypted versions of the files.
This "Maginot Line" mentality is the bane of security systems.
Crackers will do anything to avoid a "sportmanlike" head on attack.
They will look primarily for sneaky ways AROUND your defenses.
So there is not much point super hardening your system at any one
point. You are better to keep plugging the weakest hole.
I dont mean superhardening it, I mean getting it up to a decent security
level. Most systems have default settings which are not very secure. So
by changing those settings and adding a couple more, then you are
decently prepared for 95% of the issues that usually comes along.
Just to give you a hint about what I am talking about.
- only allow secure passwords
- only accept ssh logins
- disable remote login of root
- shut down all services not needed.
- default deny on all login service and other services
- disable all accocunts which are not used
- turn off insecure options on services actually running
- add tripwire on all essential system binaries
- dont run web servers on public ports without it being properly set up
- never allow IE or Outlook (they account for 80-90% of internet
security problems)
- only allow secure web browsers, with dynamic features default off
(java, javascript, plugins).
or which supports a white list feature.
- only allow a secure email client
- add a stateful firewall with all ingoing services blocked.
- as a bit of physical security: use encrypted filesystems on the entire
disk.
and what I want to add on top of that is, encrypted files, i.e. source
code files, open office files and encrypted email (for internal use only)
regards
tom