Re: Guarddog is insecure by default!

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Re: Guarddog is insecure by default!
by c on Tuesday 02/Aug/2005, @17:59

then do 1 or more of the following:

1. warn that the icq protocol is not secure
2. use ralsina's proposal
3. don't advertise guarddog as secure by default

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Re: Guarddog is insecure by default!
by Simon Edwards on Tuesday 02/Aug/2005, @22:16

> 1. warn that the icq protocol is not secure

I'll have a good think about how best to communicate that to the user.

(Suggestions are welcome. I'm gravitating towards any extra 'risk' column with a small rating symbol. Instead of little gold stars there will be scary little skull-and-crossbones symbols. :-) Seriously, that is exactly what I am thinking now.)

> 2. use ralsina's proposal

That is not likely to happen soon. It is, well, radically different than the current approach.

> 3. don't advertise guarddog as secure by default

ICQ is not on by default.

--
Simon

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Re: Guarddog is insecure by default!
by dsaf on Thursday 04/Aug/2005, @03:29

> > 1. warn that the icq protocol is not secure

> I'll have a good think about how best to communicate that to the user.

> (Suggestions are welcome. I'm gravitating towards any extra 'risk' column
> with a small rating symbol. Instead of little gold stars there will be scary
> little skull-and-crossbones symbols. :-) Seriously, that is exactly what I am
> thinking now.)

In addition to that, how about a GRC-style set of coloured boxes that show what ports Guarddog has opened up. Additionally doubly warn of server ports that are opened up.

> > 3. don't advertise guarddog as secure by default

> ICQ is not on by default.

Oh please. The real issue is this:

No user can expect that allowing an ICQ client turns their computer into an open server!

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Re: Guarddog is insecure by default!
by Simon Edwards on Thursday 04/Aug/2005, @10:04

To be honest I don't think that warning the user is really going to help much. People don't read warnings. The best idea I can think of right now is to choose a range of ports and open only those for ICQ, and tell everyone to configure their ICQ client. That looks like the safest way to me.

(Email me, or take this to the mailing list. Lets not take over the Dot. ;) )

--
Simon

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