Re: FV Demonstrates Fatal Flaw in Software Encryption of Credit

[m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally)]

Ed Carp writes:
 > > Not wishing to get in the middle of this controversy, I have been 
 > > wondering about the possibility of using a JAVA applet to do keyboard 
 > > sniffing. As I am not familiar with this language, does anyone know if 
 > > this would be possible?
 > 
 > From what I've read about Java, it is not possible to use Java in this
 > way.

Because Java is a general-purpose programming language, it is indeed
possible to use Java to do keyboard sniffing, just like it's possible
to use it for an adventure game, or system management software, or
anything else you can imagine a general-purpose programming language
being used for.

The real question is, "can I use a Java applet in the context of a
particular Java virtual machine implementation (like, maybe, the
Netscape Navigator web browser) to do keyboard sniffing?".

The Java interpreter is only as secure as the wrapper implementation
wants it to be.  For lots of purposes, you don't need or want any more
security for a Java program than you would for a C++ program.

______c_____________________________________________________________________
Mike M Nally * Tivoli Systems * Austin TX   * I want more, I want more,
       m5@tivoli.com * m101@io.com          * I want more, I want more ...
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