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Trust in Cyberspace (1999) / Chapter Skim
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Appendix I: Secrecy of Design
Pages 296-297

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From page 296...
... Finally, military systems in particular often exist in environments where postdeployment upgrades are difficult to achieve. Special problems arise when partial public knowledge is necessary about the nature of the security mechanisms, such as when a military security module is designed for integration into COTS equipment.
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From page 297...
... Only after the entire assurance and evaluation process has been completed and the known residual vulnerabilities identifiedshould a decision be made about what portions of the system description are safe to release. Any imposition of secrecy, about either part or all of the design, carries two risks: that a residual vulnerability could have been discovered by a friendly peer reviewer in time to be fixed, and that the secret parts of the system will be reverse engineered and made public, leading to the further discovery, publication, and exploitation of vulnerabilities.
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Key Terms

  • public knowledge
  • devote adequate
  • technology aimed
  • evaluation process
  • prudent course

  • security mechanisms
  • entire development
  • procedural controls
  • strict procedural
  • friendly peer

  • defeating reverse
  • military security
  • finding vulnerabilities
  • efforts efforts
  • entire assurance

  • peer reviewer
  • security module
  • vulnerabilities identifiedshould
  • substantial resources
  • partial public

  • cots equipment
  • adequate effort
  • residual vulnerability
  • reverse engineering
  • analysis efforts

  • locate vulnerabilities
  • residual vulnerabilities
  • devoting substantial
  • peer review
  • development rests


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