On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 16:05:00 -0500
Tim Dierks [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
A random thought that's been kicking around in my head: if someone
were looking for a project, an open-source permissive action link (
http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb/nsam-160/pal.html is a good link,
thank you Mr. Bellovin) seems like it might be a great public
resource: I suspect it's something that some nuclear states could use
some education on, but even if the US is willing to share technology,
the recipient may not really trust the source.
As such, an open-source PAL technology might substantially improve
global safety.
I don't think it would be fruitful. Have a look at page 2 of
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/washington/18nuke.html -- it notdes
that The system hinges on what is essentially a switch in the firing
circuit that requires the would-be user to enter a numeric code that
starts a timer for the weapon?s arming and detonation. I don't think
that that's quite correct -- it permits arming; PALs are not in the
firing circuit, I believe -- but this section is more interesting:
Delicate design details involve how to bury the link deep inside a
weapon to keep terrorists or enemies from disabling the safeguard.
In other words, it's easy to have a circuit that keeps the bomb from
arming; the hard part is doing so with high assurance against attacks,
and that's very design-dependent.
--Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
-
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending unsubscribe cryptography to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
