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'