On Wednesday 05 December 2007 18:22:19 Claus Assmann wrote:

quoted text
> On Wed, Dec 05, 2007, STeve Andre' wrote:

> > Yes, one can dismiss the "benefits".  Think about what an MD5 (or any

> > other cyptographic) checksum means.  If the OpenBSD site publishes

> > that list, how does something more complicated help?

> >

> > Answer: it doesn't.

>

> Wrong.

>

> If someone cracks a website, then he can put up a modified binary

> and a modified MD5 checksum. Creating a (digital) signature (with

> the right key) is significantly more complex.

>

> Using CDs to distribute the code make the attack of course rather

> complicated.

>

> Someone actually did the former with sendmail.org (to distribute a

> version of sendmail with a backdoor).  The problem was only noted

> because users checked the (digital) signature.

You know, you're descending into a recursive loop of "if, if, if..." and

it never ends.  OF COURSE if someone breaks into the site they could

do things--once you've lost control of your site all bets are off.  I dare

say that someone breaking into a site might find all the appropriate

tools to re-sign things, too, and do the spoof that way.
--STeve Andre'