[ZODB-Dev] ZEO and Security

[Steve Waterbury]

Andrew Kuchling wrote:

> I'm doubtful that it can be made convincingly secure, though, because
> there's no obvious small core of code to be audited.  ...
> 
> Somewhere Bruce Schneier wrote about partial security being worse than
> no security, because it encourages doing riskier things, making the
> damage from a breach more serious when one does happen.  If you
> document the ZODB and ZEO as being unsafe, then people will simply
> have to design their systems in a way that protects the ZODB from
> being exposed to the outside world.

I agree with Andrew.  The "security" constraints that are built in 
to DBMS's are not up to modern security requirements 
for direct access from the net ....  I think applications that 
need real security will need to depend on a channel or wrapper 
technology that is widely used and frequently scrutinized by 
security experts, the way ssh and tcp wrappers are.  

-- Steve.

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"Sometimes you're the windshield; sometimes you're the bug."
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Stephen C. Waterbury                       Component Technologies
Code 562, NASA/GSFC                  and Radiation Effects Branch
Greenbelt, MD 20771           Engineering Web/Database Specialist
Tel: 301-286-7557                              FAX:  301-286-1695
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