Re: Nokia IPSO

From: Greg Shipley (gshipley@neohapsis.com)
Date: 12/17/01 

Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 14:33:43 -0600 (CST)
From: Greg Shipley <gshipley@neohapsis.com>
To: Hisham Kotry <etsh_cucu@yahoo.com>

On Mon, 17 Dec 2001, Hisham Kotry wrote:

> I have seen alot of talk about the Nokia IPSO on this list, I was
> willing to buy one soon, and this encouraged me more, but I was had a
> few concerns in mind, one of wich is, would IPSO run ANY software
> other than RealSecure and CPFW-1?, I know that it is a FreeBSD
> based-OS, and it is so similar, but will it run anything?

It's important to note that IPSO is BSD *derived*, so it's not *quite*
like running BSD. You might want to think of IPSO as a "fork" off of the
BSD tree. So where BSD might have gone left on issue X, IPSO may have
gone right. (Or just not have gone, which unfortunately appears to be the
case on some issues...)

Also note that while you might be able to get app X running on IPSO, I'm
not sure how well that will be supported by the vendors. I'd check to
make sure that running X isn't going to violate Nokia's support contract,
or Checkpoint's, or ISS', or.... I know, for example, one org that wants
to run an IDS sensor other then RealSecure on their IPSO appliances, and
Nokia's stance is a definitive thumbs down. (As in, they aren't
supporting it)

So the Nokia appliances are essentially Intel boxes, and they do run IPSO
(which is a close relative to modern-day BSD), but IMHO they aren't as
flexible/usable as, say, a generic Linux or BSD box. They have their
place, absolutely, but if you need a general security appliance you might
be better off just building one. (Rather then trying to strong-arm the
Nokia...)

My .02 and change, anyway,

-Greg

Relevant Pages

  • Re: [Full-Disclosure] Nokia IPSO
    ... Ummm, IPSO is BSD-based, is it not? ... Sandro Littke wrote: ... does anyone know a mailing list (or web site) about Nokia IPSO ...
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  • big brother client for nokia
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