Re: [comp.security] Secure computers

[Neale Pickett <neale@lanl.gov>]

Manoj Srivastava writes:

[ a pretty good, but still not quite up to snuff, procedure for securing 
  a machine ]

I have a better method, though.  Gather all matter which has ever come
into contact with the machine in question, either through network or
disk activity, or which has been bombarded with a single photon which
has come into contact with the machine in question.  Store all this
matter in a nearby black hole.

This has two advantages:
1.  No information can leak out of your storage area in any way.
2.  If someone manages to get into your storage and reconstruct your
    data, they're still unable to report anything back to HQ.

And on the off chance that your nemesis is *in* the storage facility to
begin with, you're still okay, since nothing they do can effect you in
any way whatsoever.  They are effectively non-existant in this case.

The creation of a Debian package to implement this mechanism should be
our highest priority.

(Note: the only possible negative to this approach is the destruction of
the earth and all known life.  But sometimes, you really need security
at any cost.)

-- 
Neale Pickett, propellerhead       Contact information in headers
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Network Engineering Group (CIC-5)