soBGP deployment

Tue May 24 11:34:06 UTC 2005

>>    - soBGP allows the receiver to determine that the AS Path describes a
>> plausible traversal across the network, but cannot validate that the update
>> itself traversed this path.
>
> further, the latter, because it relies on a separate data set for
> path validity, has serious and very kinky temporal sync problems.

*sigh*

Once again: This data is updated at the same rate and in the same way as 
BGP routing data. Randy, if you're going to ignore me, and you _claim_ to 
have read teh soBGP drafts, you could at least tell the truth about the way 
soBGP works. I don't lie about S-BGP, I know how it works, and understand 
its good and bad points.

This is an issue of _design tradeoffs_, plain and simple, as all security 
is. If I had infinite money, I might live in a burglarproof house. I don't, 
hence, I accept some level of break in risk. This is the way life is. If I 
had infinite processing power and infinite bandwidth across every link, my 
tradeoffs are different when considering the options available.

> i receive a bgp announcement from a new peer, but the announcement was 
> originated two weeks ago (shockers!  a stable route); was the asserted 
> path to my new peer valid when the announcement was originated two weeks 
> ago?  once your mind starts down such paranoid paths, the void opens 
> before one's eyes.

I have this:

A---B----C
|        |
+---D----+

A is dual homed to B and D, and is advertising 10.1.1.0/24 through both. A 
removes its connection to B, but continues its connection through D. D is 
aggregating to 10.1.0.0/16, just to make things interesting.

How long can B continue advertising the _fully signed_ and, to C, fully 
secure path to 10.1.1.0/24 through a path that no longer exists? No matter 
how long you make the timestamp, it's too long (and how long _is_ S-BGP's 
timestamp??). The possible attacks of this nature against signature based 
systems are limitless.

:-)

Russ

__________________________________
riw at cisco.com CCIE <>< Grace Alone