NYT article

• To: www-security@ns2.rutgers.edu
• Subject: NYT article
• From: "John Hemming CEO MarketNet" <JohnHemming@mkn.co.uk>
• Date: Fri, 13 Oct 1995 09:00:03 AM PDT

>From: Marc Horowitz ltmarc@mit.edu

>I have a slightly different view of this article than the rest of you.
>Technically, it's old news.  However, the blatant insecurity of the
>Internet in general is a real problem about which most people are
>unaware, and the NYT has helped bring it into the public eye.

I would disagree with this from two perspectives.

1.  Anyone using the internet has probably had security problems
     hyped up beyond the real problem that exists.  The NYT has
     certainly not introduced the problem to the public domain.

2.  The internet is probably more secure than other systems in that
     the issues are being properly considered.  If you have a secret
     security system (such as Mondex or Citibank's network) the holes
     are only clear when someone gets through them.

All systems computer or otherwise have security holes.  The crucial
issue is to limit the size of the holes.  Asymmetric cryptography allows
a mechanism to protect security using mathematics rather than
confidentiality.  This should be recognised by people such as the
NYT.

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