Cracking passwords and picking locks

[rishab@dxm.ernet.in]

cactus@bibliob.slip.netcom.com (L. Todd Masco):
>>Data crime - 'cracking', 'phreaking' etc usually reflect a total lack of 
>>responsibility on the part of _administrators_. "Officer, I left my wallet
>>on the kerb 10 minutes ago, and now it's gone!"
>
>This sounds like typical kiddie-cracker garbage.  It's more like, "Officer,
> I didn't know that master locks could be picked with the greatest of ease:
> arrest that man who picked it and took my wallet."
>[encryption is more complex than master locks etc]

I suppose it's obvious that I was not talking about the present, but future
information society, a world where digital signatures and encryption are as
familiar as combination locks and safes are today. I think it would be
reasonable to assume a fair degree of knowledge on security on the part of
system administrators - if by that time it's not widely known that plaintext
or simple protection (un-shadowed passwords etc) can, like master locks, be
'picked with ease,' then all our efforts towards greater awareness of 
privacy and security would have failed.


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