4 ms·

The thing is we haven't really been trying. Capability-based security is still an academic niche, thread-level parallelism never managed to take on instruction-

The thing is we haven't really been trying. Capability-based security is still an academic niche, thread-level parallelism never managed to take on instruction-level parallelism, high-level computer architectures barely receive interest anymore. System programming with a GC is considered anathema, and microkernels have been demonized (in no small part thanks to Torvalds himself). I don't know if a "truly secure computing platform" can exist, but one cannot derive assumptions from the current landscape.

haberman 11y ago
You might like https://sandstorm.io/ https://sandstorm.io/. Among other things it seeks to bring capability-based security to the mainstream.
- vezzy-fnord 11y ago
  I'm aware of it. I know that Kenton Varda has spoke in support of capabilities before and I appreciate said viewpoint. I have not studied Sandstorm deep enough to know whether it's really a security tool. I'm under the impression that its main goal is to enable easy self-hosting of server-side applications.
  - haberman 11y ago
    > I have not studied Sandstorm deep enough to know whether it's really a security tool. I'm under the impression that its main goal is to enable easy self-hosting of server-side applications. Check out this: > Sandstorm is a security product. > We like to say that Sandstorm's priorities are Usability, Security, and Freedom. In public, we tend to talk more about usability and freedom, because those are the priorities users are most excited about. However, within the team, we are just as passionate -- if not more so -- about security. > Ultimately, our goal is that, to the maximum extent possible, users need not worry about security, because using the system intuitively will result in the desired security properties "by default". Moreover, we aim to allow network administrators to be able to say: "As long as it's on Sandstorm, you can run whatever apps you want, because we trust Sandstorm to keep things secure." https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices/ https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices...

haberman 11y ago

You might like https://sandstorm.io/ https://sandstorm.io/. Among other things it seeks to bring capability-based security to the mainstream.

vezzy-fnord 11y ago
I'm aware of it. I know that Kenton Varda has spoke in support of capabilities before and I appreciate said viewpoint. I have not studied Sandstorm deep enough to know whether it's really a security tool. I'm under the impression that its main goal is to enable easy self-hosting of server-side applications.
- haberman 11y ago
  > I have not studied Sandstorm deep enough to know whether it's really a security tool. I'm under the impression that its main goal is to enable easy self-hosting of server-side applications. Check out this: > Sandstorm is a security product. > We like to say that Sandstorm's priorities are Usability, Security, and Freedom. In public, we tend to talk more about usability and freedom, because those are the priorities users are most excited about. However, within the team, we are just as passionate -- if not more so -- about security. > Ultimately, our goal is that, to the maximum extent possible, users need not worry about security, because using the system intuitively will result in the desired security properties "by default". Moreover, we aim to allow network administrators to be able to say: "As long as it's on Sandstorm, you can run whatever apps you want, because we trust Sandstorm to keep things secure." https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices/ https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices...