Re: RFID Flap Silences Security Researchers

[Marc_F_Hult <MFHult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:39:01 -0400, "Robert L Bass"
<no-sales-spam@bassburglaralarms> wrote in message
<Lbqdnbo2xZKUMWfYnZ2dnUVZ_g-dnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx>:

>
>"Bill Kearney" <wkearney-99@hot-mail-com> wrote in message
news:N4KdnbbuWflJC2fYnZ2dnUVZ_q6vnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> There's another reason that thieves don't go
>>> around toting key blanks.  They don't open
>>> anything.


>> I'm not arguing one against the other;
>> mechanical keys vs RFID.  More that
>> implementing things like RFID into a
>> residential setting has considerably
>> more possible problems than existing
>> solutions effectively handle; in a
>> *residential* setting...

Google "lock bumping" to find sites with Presidents' Day Specials on lock
bumping sets and training videos :-(

Seems that most anyone can make most residential locks useless in seconds.

Breaking RFID is much more difficult and complicated (for now, for most
crooks).

>> Thus the silencing of potential risks
>> because of the defects in the technology
>> IS a troubling problem.  Security through
>> obscurity is worthless.
>
>On that point I agree wholeheartedly.  I've
>tried to make that point among "security"
>people in the past but with limited success.

Obscurity is but a tool. It is not a complete solution, but it can be part
of an approach.

An example: I post frequently in this newsgroup and have several web sites
also at the IP address that is in every header of each of my usenet posts.
Do you think that IP address is also the portal to my HA and security
system?  If not, does not that additional obscurity provide me with an
additional level of protection compared to if my IP address were public?

Another example: Internet portal devices (routers, firewalls, etc) have
vulnerabilities that depend on the specifics of the device.  Does not the
fact that I have never revealed specifics of my portal hardware provide me
with more security than if I did?

'Course no security is perfect. If someone really wants to get to my
security panel or HA system, they could 'easily' do so by ringing the
doorbell and shooting me and the dogs ...

... Marc
Marc_F_Hult
www.NeuralHome.net