Re: Non-repudiation (was RE: The PAIN mnemonic)

At 08:23 AM 12/21/2003 -0800, Carl Ellison wrote:
> That's an interesting definition, but you're describing a constraint on the
> behavior of a human being.  This has nothing to do with cryptosystem choice
> or network protocol design.  What mechanisms do you suggest for enforcing
> even the constraint you cite?  Of course, that constraint isn't enough.  In
> order to achieve non-repudiation, the way it is defined, you need to prove
> to a third party (the judge) that a particular human being knowingly caused
> a digital signature to be made.  A signature can be made without the
> conscious action of the person to whom that key has been assigned in a
> number of ways, none of which includes negligence by that person.
>
> Let's just leave the term "non-repudiation" to be used by people who don't
> understand security, but rather mouth things they've read in books that
> others claim are authoritative.  There are lots of those books listing
> "non-repudiation" as a feature of public key cryptography, for example, and
> many listing it as an essential security characteristic.  All of that is
> wrong, of course, but it's a test for the reader to see through it.

I mentioned PAIN as a (in-use) security taxonomy ... not a cryptosystem 
taxonomy  or network protocol taxonomy ... and there is nothing precluding 
human factors in a security paradigm (like human factors issues of 
requiring unique shared-secret for every security domain leading to humans 
having to fumble around with scores of shared-secrets).

i agreee that non-repudiation has been seriously mis-used especially with 
regard to crypto systems.  I've even made the assertion that possibly some 
of it can be contributed to having the word signature occur in both the 
term "digital signature" and "legal signature" .... even tho the two may 
have nothing at all to do with each other.

note, however, when I did reference PAIN as (one possible) security 
taxonomy .... i tended to skip over the term non-repudiation and primarily 
made references to privacy, authentication, and integrity.

sample of some past posts in various venues on the subject.
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep0 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep1 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep2 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep3 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep4 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep5 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aepay7.htm#nonrep6 non-repudiation, was Re: 
crypto flaw in secure mail standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#6 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#7 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#8 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#9 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#11 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#12 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#13 Words, Books, and Key Usage
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#14 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm11.htm#15 Meaning of Non-repudiation
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm12.htm#37 Legal entities who sign
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm12.htm#38 Legal entities who sign
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm14.htm#47 UK: PKI "not working"
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm15.htm#32 VS: On-line signature standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm15.htm#33 VS: On-line signature standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm15.htm#34 VS: On-line signature standards 
(slight addenda)
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm15.htm#35 VS: On-line signature standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/aadsm15.htm#36 VS: On-line signature standards
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#30 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#34 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#39 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#40 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#41 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#42 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#43 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#44 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#45 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#46 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#47 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#50 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#51 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#52 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#54 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#56 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#57 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#58 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#59 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#60 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#72 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities
http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/2001c.html#73 PKI and Non-repudiation 
practicalities

--
Anne & Lynn Wheeler    http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/
Internet trivia 20th anv http://www.garlic.com/~lynn/rfcietff.htm
 

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