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What does the "Viet Nam conflict" have to do with capability-based security?

by Eduard 5y ago

prutschman 5y ago
I suspect a combination of 1) the US military having extensively studied this problem already. 2) that they did it a very long time ago.
mikewarot 5y ago
Due to possible enemy infiltration of our computer systems and spy networks, there were multiple levels of secret data that had to be coordinated to allow airstrikes (one level of secret information) to avoid enemy radar(a different level of secrets). The location of enemy radar sites was very tightly held information, as knowing what we knew could reveal means and sources of information. The actual airstrikes would eventually be known by the destruction of enemy targets. It wasn't possible at the time to have a computer system which could allow the mixing of these levels of secrecy. This meant everything had to be done by hand. The development of Multilevel Secure systems by the Air Force in the 1970s is a direct result of that experience.
- zozbot234 5y ago
  > It wasn't possible at the time to have a computer system which could allow the mixing of these levels of secrecy. This meant everything had to be done by hand. > The development of Multilevel Secure systems by the Air Force in the 1970s is a direct result of that experience. BTW, this stuff is not just for Air Force folks, either. Multi-level security is the most principled approach around to efficiently mitigate pervasive information-disclosure vulnerabilities like Spectre. The current approach to mitigation has us flushing speculation contexts down the drain even when sensitive info is provably not at stake, which is wildly inefficient compared to what's theoretically possible.
tybit 5y ago
I imagine it's a reference to https://blogs.tedneward.com/post/the-vietnam-of-computer-science/ https://blogs.tedneward.com/post/the-vietnam-of-computer-sci...
- mikewarot 5y ago
  Interesting tangent, but no... not that.

What does the "Viet Nam conflict" have to do with capability-based security?

by Eduard 5y ago

What does the "Viet Nam conflict" have to do with capability-based security?

I suspect a combination of 1) the US military having extensively studied this problem already. 2) that they did it a very long time ago.

mikewarot 5y ago

Due to possible enemy infiltration of our computer systems and spy networks, there were multiple levels of secret data that had to be coordinated to allow airstrikes (one level of secret information) to avoid enemy radar(a different level of secrets). The location of enemy radar sites was very tightly held information, as knowing what we knew could reveal means and sources of information. The actual airstrikes would eventually be known by the destruction of enemy targets. It wasn't possible at the time to have a computer system which could allow the mixing of these levels of secrecy. This meant everything had to be done by hand. The development of Multilevel Secure systems by the Air Force in the 1970s is a direct result of that experience.

zozbot234 5y ago
> It wasn't possible at the time to have a computer system which could allow the mixing of these levels of secrecy. This meant everything had to be done by hand. > The development of Multilevel Secure systems by the Air Force in the 1970s is a direct result of that experience. BTW, this stuff is not just for Air Force folks, either. Multi-level security is the most principled approach around to efficiently mitigate pervasive information-disclosure vulnerabilities like Spectre. The current approach to mitigation has us flushing speculation contexts down the drain even when sensitive info is provably not at stake, which is wildly inefficient compared to what's theoretically possible.

tybit 5y ago

I imagine it's a reference to https://blogs.tedneward.com/post/the-vietnam-of-computer-science/ https://blogs.tedneward.com/post/the-vietnam-of-computer-sci...

mikewarot 5y ago
Interesting tangent, but no... not that.