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A Bolshevik Take on Computer Security

By Allen Holub

January 1, 2006 — (Page 1 of 3)
Zeichick’s Take in the Dec. 1 SD Times News on Thursday, one of this newspaper’s regular newsletters, fretted about management’s reluctance to pay to build secure systems. The column, written by Alan Zeichick, SD Times’ editorial director, quotes several programmers venting their frustration, and Zeichick points out (rightly) that we should all be worried about insecure applications. The problem is not a management one, however, nor is it technical. The problem is political.

Consider identity theft. This problem is entirely soluble. The real issue is that no existing laws encourage credit card issuers to adopt secure practices—quite the contrary, in fact. If credit issuers (including the credit card companies) were required to verify a person’s identity before granting a loan, there simply wouldn’t be an identity-theft problem.

How do you verify identity? Think about how you open a checking account: You have to show up at the bank in person with some sort of legitimate ID, one that was based on some hard evidence that you’re who you say you are—a state driver’s license for example, augmented by some proof of address like a utility bill in your name. Driver’s licenses can be forged, of course, but it’s a lot harder to do that than it is to steal a credit card application out of somebody’s mailbox and scribble a new address on it.

Identity verification is easy when the card issuer is your own bank, but what if you want a card from a different bank? The banks can use the same process that your browser uses when it decides to trust a certificate. Banks trust each other. It’s not that difficult for the card-issuing bank to require that you have a bank account somewhere, and then verify your address, etc., by contacting your bank. To get even more secure, the issuer could send a permission form to the address on file with your bank and not issue the card until that permission (with the signature compared to the one on file at your bank) was granted.

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