[dbsec] Re: How secure is software X?
- From: Tim Newsham <newsham@xxxxxxxx>
- To: David Litchfield <davidl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 08:55:33 -1000 (HST)
At least as secure as Vulnerability Assessment Assurance Level P; or Q or R.
Well, that's what I think we should be able to say. What we need is an open
standard, that has been agreed upon by recognized experts, against which the
absence of software security vulnerability can be measured - something which
improves upon the failings of the Common Criteria.
What about a completely different approach, as chosen by the Sardonix
project? Keep track of who has tested a particular product and what
they have found. Keep track of the ability of testers to find things
and the number of things that are missed. Combine these metrics into
some level of assurance and some security rating....
"5 very good security reviewers have done extensive testing of this
product and found a small number of vulnerabilities."
"2 reviewers made a cursory pass over the code and identified a few
issues"
"100 reviewers found many bugs in this product over the last 12 mos, and
the number of vulns seems to be coming down very slowly with each new
revision"
These sort of statements can be made more formal, and each carries a lot
of useful information about security and confidence. Of course its only
as good as participation. I'm not sure the level of information sharing
required to make this really work is present in the security community.
Tim Newsham
http://www.lava.net/~newsham/
Other related posts:
