OSEC

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NFR Wizards Archive: Re: Penetration testing via shrinkware

Re: Penetration testing via shrinkware

Paul D. Robertson (probertsclark.net)
Mon, 21 Sep 1998 11:03:11 -0400 (EDT)

On Mon, 21 Sep 1998, Ted Doty wrote:

> > While it isn't 100% foolproof, there's
> >a lot to be learned from a B2 evaluation. Security modeling, code
> >walk-throughs, secure development methodologies, they all have their
> >place if you're going to build assurance. "After-the-fact" testing is
> >always _much_ more blind than during "construction" testing. Just as
> >crystal boxes tend to be better than black boxes in that regard.
>
> ObDisclaimer: I survived two B1/2 evaluations (actually one Orange Book and
> one ITSec), and I build a scanner.
>
> The biggest problem in the evaluations was the quality of the evaluation
> teams. Teams with high caliber members, which operate together as a stable
> team for extended periods might be effective. What I saw was that you
> could count on neither.

I'm pretty sure this has always been the case, however, vendors who go out
to play with the evaluations tend to do a lot more of the groundwork than
generic vendors. If the traditional method of introducing such dicipline
isn't good enough, or doesn't provide enough flexibility, then maybe we
can agree on what would?

> The upshot is that Orange Book methods can probably only be applied for
> products which place a premium on reliability - for example, medical
> applications. These systems will always be more expensive if developed
> under TCSec guidelines, and they will be upgraded with new features more
> slowly. This argues pretty strongly for less formal methods, such as peer
> review, for most products.

Peer review would also work for me. What I find disconcerting is that the
current state of the art is zero review.

> I have never seen any data that suggest that formally-evaluated systems are
> (much, if any) higher quality than non-evaluated systems. If you make the
> assumption that each of the Orange Book implementations of {security
> modeling, code walk-throughs, secure development methodologies) will only
> catch a portion of the defects, the industry may be better served by a less
> formal/structured analysis combined with black box analysis. By "better
> served" I mean less expensive, easier to use products that provide roughly
> equivalent levels of protection.

While black box scanners are really good at implementation verification, I
don't think they tend to be the best models of design verification.
Perhaps some others have some experiences scanning code for bad things
that they can share, I'm sure grepping for "^printf" can't be the best way
to find these things.

> Then again, maybe not. However, I won't be taking my scanner anywhere near
> Orange Book until this is a *lot* more clear. Your mileage, as always, may
> vary.

The Orange/Red Book criteria are the only real model for secure code
development we have to work with. I don't think that we should throw the
whole idea out because the implementation isn't ideal.

I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who thinks we're doing a disservice
to ourselves in this regard.

Paul
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Paul D. Robertson "My statements in this message are personal opinions
probertsclark.net which may have no basis whatsoever in fact."
                                                                     PSB#9280

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