Michael Vincent van Rantwijk, MultiZilla wrote:
> Let's go back one step: *if* Joe Hacker gets control over mozdev.org 
> somehow, then he _can_ change the links and the downloads, easily, 
> because the mirrors pull from that box, and that is the same for 
> mozilla.org I suppose!

This is true. But it doesn't contradict anything I've said.

Let's make it simple:

No link fingerprints:
   Download mirror hacked => attacker has won
   Webserver hacked => attacker has won

Link fingerprints:
   Download mirror hacked => attacker has lost
   Webserver hacked => attacker has won

Notice the improvement?

>> So "the download is trojaned" does not automatically imply that the 
>> hacker has access to change the fingerprint.
> 
> In this case it does, and I'm not alone on this.

No. You are mixing up cause and effect.

I am saying "Download server hacked =/= hacker can change the fingerprint".

You are saying "Hacker can change the fingerprint == hacker can cause 
you to download a trojan". This is true, but it's not the opposite of 
what I'm saying.

Link Fingerprints are not a security panacea. They are a way of raising 
the bar without making the user do any work. They would have avoided or 
mitigated every trojaned download problem I've come across in the past 
few years.

Gerv
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