RE: [fw-wiz] Security of HTTPS

From: Marcus J. Ranum (mjr_at_ranum.com)
Date: 11/23/04

  • Next message: Mike Smith: "[fw-wiz] Re: Antivirus vendor conspiracy theories" 
    To: "Ben Nagy" <ben@iagu.net>, "'Alex Bihlmaier'" <thalunil@kallisti.de>, <firewall-wizards@honor.icsalabs.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 09:01:54 -0500

    Ben Nagy wrote:
    >I don't know if this is a troll. If you're some super advanced
    >crypto-protocol guy trying to send a minimalist email, I may have been
    >fooled.

    Usually, when I see one of these:
    "Hello, I have an [absolute beginner question]. Can you compare
    [obvious security newbie thing] with [other obvious security newbie
    thing]?"
    I figure it's a college undergrad (or maybe a high school student) who
    is doing "research" for his/her homework. As one of the listed guardians
    of the firewalls FAQ I get 5 or 6 of these a year. Sometimes they are
    honest enough to add, "I am researching this topic for my thesis" or
    whatever.

    Now that teachers have gotten smart enough to research potential
    plagiarism using google, lamer students have reacted by social
    engineering mailing lists in order to obtain custom text or pointers.
    When I was moderating firewall-wizards I dealt with this by simply
    not letting ultra-basic questions through. Basically, it's an insult
    to the readers of the list to waste their time on behalf of some
    utter lamer who is too lazy to even type:
    www.google.com
    "search string here" <return>

    This is one response I gave to one of the more obvious trolls sent
    to firewalls-FAQ:
    >What forms can a firewall take like hardware, software?

    Firewalls can be made out of hardware, software, or sponge material.

    >What are some common functions provided by a firewall?

    Most firewalls only implement security. Some firewalls, however,
    can wash dishes or groom dogs.

    mjr.

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