[OLPC Security] teasing apart the security problem into pieces

[Jim Gettys]

If this project succeeds, it will be a very big target.  But I think we
have to separate the problem into a set of (possibly) related problems.

I think there are a number of issues we need to tease apart:
  o network security, both in the large (e.g. worms & viruses and other
big issues), and in the small (e.g. who should have access to a school's
network?)
  o securing school server machines, and faculty accounts
  o kid's accounts, in the sense of identifying that they are valid
users of a school's resources.
  o how secure should kid's machines really be anyway? 
  o what to do about sibling/parents of children with laptops?
  o ad-hoc security: how do we operate when we don't have access to
centralized network infrastructure?
  o are there ways in which we can exploit security technology to reduce
the inevitable theft problem?
  o what level of privacy is needed and appropriate for different
stakeholders (students, faculty, administrators, etc.).

So first, let's see if there are other questions that should be posed
than the list that comes to my mind immediately.
                                     - Jim



On Mon, 2006-04-03 at 03:05 -0300, Alex Nunes wrote:
> Hi everybody!!
> 
> My name is Alex Nunes, I am a member of the Codebreakers Team 
> (http://www.codebreakers.com.br)
> We are a Team that research and develop technology security/unsecurity 
> applications.
> 
> As Walter said when he came for a meeting here at Sao Paulo,
> the biggest problem the laptops are going to deal with, is the 
> monoculture of the hardware and software we are going to build.
> This way one vulnerability found in one laptop could be exploited in any 
> other laptop from the olpc...
> It could be as well, a very easy way to spread worms and viruses.
> 
> Thinking about it... get us to some questions: how vulnerabilities are 
> exploited? What vulnerabilities are most often found?
> How worms propagate?
> 
> 
> I have some answers already, but I would like to know what you guys 
> think about it...
> 
> 
> 
> Alex Nunes
> Sefer_Zohar
> _______________________________________________
> Security mailing list
> Security at laptop.org
> http://mailman.laptop.org/mailman/listinfo/security
-- 
Jim Gettys
One Laptop Per Child