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Any time someone mentions Steve Gibson, the "Security Now" podcast, or any of his "work" I feel obligated to point them to http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan

Any time someone mentions Steve Gibson, the "Security Now" podcast, or any of his "work" I feel obligated to point them to http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan/steve_gibson/ http://attrition.org/errata/charlatan/steve_gibson/

BoppreH 9y ago
The stuff on that page is old, and I don't find it all that damning. Gibson is a character indeed, and I disagree with some of his stuff (e.g. writing security code in assembly and posting screenshots online in lieu of open source), but I wouldn't put scary quotes around the word "work" as you did. And note I said "something like SQRL".
- jgowdy 9y ago
  But support for raw sockets is going to destroy the internet! Steve Gibson warned us! Now it’s too late!
frou_dh 9y ago
Then it's time to retire that "obligation" of yours.
- jlgaddis 9y ago
  I'm not sure why. I've seen nothing that would lead me to change my opinions of him. I probably wouldn't feel so strongly about it had I not listened to a couple of his podcasts. I had several hours of driving ahead, searched for something that sounded interesting, found his "Security Now" podcast, and downloaded a few episodes. Keep in mind that his audience, AFAICT, is primarily made up of younger listeners who are relatively new to infosec as well as "non-techy" people en masse (the kind of people who get their tech support from a guy on the radio, as someone elsewhere put it). Now, I'm far from a security expert but I'm not exactly a "n00b" and it didn't take long at all until I heard him saying things that were just patently incorrect. When one is repeatedly wrong in an area in which they claim to be an expert, I tend to question their credibility. Others have found plenty of issues with "SQRL" -- arguably his best idea -- which he simply dismisses and I can still remember when he first presented "GENESIS" to the world. Oh, and be careful out there on the Internet, as your ISP-assigned reverse DNS "might uniquely identify you on the Internet". IMO, that's right up there with "your computer may be broadcasting your IP address". Last, remember, he's a marketing guy. That's his real area of expertise. He's certainly better at that than he is anything related to security.

BoppreH 9y ago

The stuff on that page is old, and I don't find it all that damning. Gibson is a character indeed, and I disagree with some of his stuff (e.g. writing security code in assembly and posting screenshots online in lieu of open source), but I wouldn't put scary quotes around the word "work" as you did. And note I said "something like SQRL".

jgowdy 9y ago
But support for raw sockets is going to destroy the internet! Steve Gibson warned us! Now it’s too late!

frou_dh 9y ago

Then it's time to retire that "obligation" of yours.

jlgaddis 9y ago
I'm not sure why. I've seen nothing that would lead me to change my opinions of him. I probably wouldn't feel so strongly about it had I not listened to a couple of his podcasts. I had several hours of driving ahead, searched for something that sounded interesting, found his "Security Now" podcast, and downloaded a few episodes. Keep in mind that his audience, AFAICT, is primarily made up of younger listeners who are relatively new to infosec as well as "non-techy" people en masse (the kind of people who get their tech support from a guy on the radio, as someone elsewhere put it). Now, I'm far from a security expert but I'm not exactly a "n00b" and it didn't take long at all until I heard him saying things that were just patently incorrect. When one is repeatedly wrong in an area in which they claim to be an expert, I tend to question their credibility. Others have found plenty of issues with "SQRL" -- arguably his best idea -- which he simply dismisses and I can still remember when he first presented "GENESIS" to the world. Oh, and be careful out there on the Internet, as your ISP-assigned reverse DNS "might uniquely identify you on the Internet". IMO, that's right up there with "your computer may be broadcasting your IP address". Last, remember, he's a marketing guy. That's his real area of expertise. He's certainly better at that than he is anything related to security.