I would also have to add one that applies here at amoco.

     What random hacker, in a semi-secure environment can afford, sneak in,
     and maintain enough DASD & processing power to capture the 300+ GB of
     s$%%$, I mean stuff, that is thrown at the server daily! (well
     actually every 1/3rd of a day, the other 2/3rds of each day is spent
     just moving it all around on the server)

     They would have to be on a subnet along the path from the client to
     the server to begin with.  (or you've got some bad router problems)
     They could eliminate other node's network traffic fairly easily.  THEY
     COULD NOT (shy of spending a million dollars) KEEP UP WITH THE FLOW OF
     DATA!

     Hey, what a way to justify a dedicated fddi environment for ADSM
     server & clients.  (or an upgrade from 10BaseT)
     "Well, we have to install dedicated fddi across the campus, multiple
     fddi cards in the server and additional fddi cards in all the clients.
     It is a security matter!"
     'Cause ya just can't easily tap into a fiber cable! Even with all the
     right equipment and all the time in the world it still screws up ;-)

     Whoa Kent, ahhh... for a second I thought that read pyrotechnics...

     anyway,
            Later,
                   Dwight


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: (Fwd) ADSM data security
Author:  ADSM-L (ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU) at unix,mime
Date:    6/19/97 1:16 PM


We have some people at our university who are hesitant to use ADSM because of
security reasons.  I believe that they are concerned of the possiblity that
ethically-challenged people may sniff networks, intercept the backup data,
and recreate files containing sensitive data.

My response to this concern is the following.

1) I presume that file data and ADSM specific data is packed into an ADSM
non-public domain protocol.  So, anybody sniffing would have to understand
and/or re-engineer this protocol.

2) We force the client to compress the data, so no clear text is transferred
on the network.  So, anyone trying to intercept that data would have to
collect complete data transmissions, understand the protocol, and uncompress
the files, in order to gain access to any sensitive data.

o Is there an official response addressing security of ADSM data on the
network?
o Are there any stronger arguments showing that security is not a concern?
o What are valid concerns for security exposure of ADSM data?

Responses anyone?

Kent

--
Kent Johnson                        Internet: johnsk6 AT rpi DOT edu
Kent Johnson                        Internet: johnsk6 AT rpi DOT edu
Unix Systems Programmer (VCC 323)      Phone: (518) 276-8175
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute         Fax: (518) 276-2809

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