[ncc-services-wg] Improved Secure Communication for Registration Services (RS) Mailboxes

Hi!

> >I object on making x.509 the sole method of authenticated
> >communication with RIPE.
> 
> >There's GPG, and it works, now.
> 
> I think this is an exageration. The only form of
> authenticated communication which works now over the
> Internet is SSL combined with HTTP. 

Why, then, do I read so much about failed key mgmt, bugs in
openssl and the like all the time, which shows that it is an
major operational PITA ?

> The choice of which secure technology is irrelevant.

Fine, then we can concentrate on GPG and we do not need x.509 based
systems ?

> The security features of the technology are irrelevant.

I do not argue about whether one is more secure than the other,
I argue about the operational it requires now and in the future.

It looks to me like a major time-burner.

Especially now that RIPE is suggesting "hey, we have GPG and
X.509, choose". I thought we all learned from Tanenbaum that
having multiple concurrent standards does not really solve any
problems.

> The only thing that matters is how easy will it
> be to use the new technology and how will RIPE
> teach people to use the technology and what tools
> will RIPE make available to people to run on their
> Windows machines, Macintosh machines and UNIX workstations
> so that they can use this new technology as easily as
> they use the web or email today.
> 
> GPG isn't necessarily any easier to learn and use
> than X.509 is.

Maybe, thats what

http://www.gnupg.org/(en)/related_software/frontends.html

is for.

> Remember, the audience for this is the
> LIR staff who administer IP address allocations. They
> are not necessarily engineers or technical people.
> They probably don't use UNIX workstations and they
> probably don't know how to write scripts or use a 
> command line.

They don't need to, see above.

-- 
MfG/Best regards, Kurt Jaeger                                  16 years to go !
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