RE: new to VPN

[Stephen Kent <kent@bbn.com>]

At 10:23 AM -0800 2/3/03, Jayant Shukla wrote:
>  > -----Original Message-----
>>  From: owner-ipsec@lists.tislabs.com
>[mailto:owner-ipsec@lists.tislabs.com]
>>  On Behalf Of Stephen Kent
>>  Sent: Monday, February 03, 2003 7:37 AM
>>  To: Jayant Shukla
>>  Cc: ipsec@lists.tislabs.com
>>  Subject: RE: new to VPN
>>
>>  >
>>  >Which modern hardware firewalls? Newest thing in security is to solve
>>  >the intrusion problem and weed out Trojans. A recent test has shown
>that
>>  >hardware based systems performed miserably.
>>
>>  Is this a function of the hardware performance, which is the focus of
>>  the thread, or the algorithms being used?
>>
>
>Please read the original e-mail by Alan and allow me to quote:
>
>"Is it true that the hardware VPN solutions are always better, trusted
>and have higher secure level than software VPN?"

Yes, that text sounds familiar. I, and others, interpreted this to 
mean that the  question had to do with the security of an 
implementation of VPN technology, since Alan asked about hardware vs. 
software for VPNs. He did not ask about VPNs that incorporate IDS 
functionality vs. ones that do not.

>  > >There are a lot of things you can do in software to catch detect
>>  >intrusions and catch Trojans, that you can never do by using a
>>  >standalone hardware.
>>
>>  Nonesense. The line between what is programmable and what is hardware
>>  has been moving for 30 years, and will continue. The fact that your
>>  company happens to sell products based on general purpose computing
>>  platforms seems to be unduly influencing your comments.
>>
>
>That's enough! Rudeness and personal attacks are not the way to conduct
>a discussion on a public forum.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, assuming that you were 
smart enough to understand that this was nonsense and that it was 
some form of corporate loyalty that forced you to make a silly 
statement of that sort. If you insist otherwise ...

>
>Since you brought up the issue of our product......it is doing rather
>well. Check the top 100 downloads at Tucows to see for yourself.
>
>http://www.tucows.com/toppicks.html

And McDonalds is highly rated by consumers of its products, which 
says so much about the nutritional value of those products.

>  > I don't recall your clearly articulating what sort of security was
>  > the focus of your comments, and from the messages others have sent, I
>>  think this lack of clarity is not merely a problem with my perception
>>  of your comments.
>>
>
>Please allow me to quote again from my first e-mail:
>
>"
>>  > Is it true that the hardware VPN solutions are always better,
>>  > trusted and have higher secure level than software VPN?
>>
>
>On the contrary, I think software solutions are becoming more secure
>than the hardware solutions. If you look at technologies related to
>intrusion prevention or known/unknown Trojan detection, the software
>solutions have a much better edge.
>"
>
>Based on the way you respond, say incorrect things, and the fact that
>you are simply not open to other people's point of views, I am not
>interested in having any more discussions with you.

I respond very negatively to nonsense statement by vendors in the 
context of an IETF WG. Your statement fall into that category.

It's not a matter of being open to "other people's point[sic] of 
views. What we have been discussing ys largely a matter of fact, not 
of value judgements.

I applaud your decision to not continue the discussion. It will avoid 
wasting the time of WG members.

Steve