DtR Episode 100 - Security Wisdom from Dan Geer

Jul 7, 2014

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In this episode

Who is Dan Geer (just in case you live in a cave and don't know)
Dan's definition of security - "The absence of unmitigatable surprise"
What exactly is the pinnacle goal of security engineering?
Responsibility, liability and when software fails as a result of security issues
In a liability lawsuit - "What did you know, when did you know it?"
The fraction of the population who could sign an "informed consent" is falling - so now what?
Why ICANN is actually making all of this so much worse
What do we do about "abandoned software"?
Fixing security bugs in software is a tricky business...good, bad, worse
Are things getting better [in security]?
Dan talks about a "diversity re-compiler" and how we can make the exploit writer's job harder
(from Jason White) -What "low hanging fruit" issues are we simply not addressing properly right now?
(from Jason White) If the Internet were being built from scratch today, what would you keep and throw away?

Guest

Dan Geer - Dan Geer is a computer security analyst and risk management specialist. He is recognized for raising awareness of critical computer and network security issues before the risks were widely understood, and for ground-breaking work on the economics of security.

Geer is currently the chief information security officer for In-Q-Tel, a not-for-profit venture capital firm that invests in technology to support the Central Intelligence Agency.

In 2003, Geer's 24-page report entitled "CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly" was released by the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA). The paper argued that Microsoft's dominance of desktop computer operating systems is a threat to national security. Geer was fired (from consultancy @Stake) the day the report was made public. Geer has cited subsequent changes in the Vista operating system (notably a location-randomization feature) as evidence that Microsoft "accepted the paper." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Geer

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