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From: wilcoxb@cs.colorado.edu (Bryce)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc
Subject: need secure OS to entrust millions to
Date: 22 Feb 1996 16:50:46 GMT
Organization: none of the above
Lines: 88
Message-ID: <4gi6t6$3h9@lace.colorado.edu>
Reply-To: bryce@c2.org
NNTP-Posting-Host: nag.cs.colorado.edu
Bcc: bryce@c2.org
Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:17827 comp.os.linux.misc:87973 comp.os.linux.networking:29406 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:14216 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:2292 comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc:2431
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I'm writing documentation which advises banks on how to
setup an electronic banking software package on a
Net-connected, firewall-protected Intel box. Some of the
most important banks in the world will be reading this
documentation very soon. The current version of the
documentation, which I inherited, advises them to run
FreeBSD or BSDI. I'm considering changing this
recommendation to Linux.
So I'm looking for an analysis of Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD and
BSDI according to the following criteria (in descending
order of importance):
1. Security
2. Reliability
3. Availability/support
4. Performance
The first issue is overwhelmingly most important, although
they are all interrelated obviously. Re: #3, If the new
stable Linux (2.0? 1.4?) comes out before this document
ships, which is unlikely, then it is a candidate, else we
are talking about Linux 1.2.13, with whatever patches are
recommended.
It would be nice if it turned out that some distribution
company like Red Hat has produced just such a stripped-down
stable distribution which has the minimal set of utilities
to do simple system management (single-user), do PCI
Ethernet and TCP/IP sockets, and do ftp out but not in.
More likely is that the bank(s) will commission just such a
system from a security consultant.
I'm hoping that this article is specific enough to avoid an
advocacy flamewar. After all, the OS that is chosen will be
stripped down to its essential bones, deprived of all
utilities and applications (except for basic system
management, limited networking, and a single banking
application), and planted in a lonely Intel box in the guts
of some bank somewhere. Just because your favorite OS
doesn't get this job doesn't mean that it isn't good enough
or smart enough or that people don't like it.
Please watch your follow-ups! One sub-thread that I would
be interested in is just what should go into this system.
It will live behind a cascade of firewalls and will have
exactly two connections: One through the firewalls to the
Net, and the other via ftp to an internal management
network. Perhaps the kernel should be hacked, although
I suspect that there are few if any features that we could
do without in the bare-bones kernel.
I re-iterate, please watch your follow-ups! I'm leaving all
of these in because they are all relevant right now, but
almost any follow-up which is substantive will exclude at
least some of these newsgroups.
Regards,
Bryce
"Toys, Tools and Technologies"
<a href="http://www.c2.org/~bryce/Niche.html"> the Niche </a>
New Signal Consulting -- C++, Java, HTML, Ecash
<a href="mailto:bryce@c2.org"> Bryce </a>
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