[cap-talk] The Limits of POLA's Utility - Social Engineering

[Ka-Ping Yee]

On Wed, 7 Jun 2006, Toby Murray wrote:
> It's not so much that Alice's files got accessed. It's just the bigger
> question of "Can POLA stop viruses?".

I think we need to be clearer about the definition of "virus."  The
scenario you've described stretches the definition of "virus" so far
that it seems it might also include, say, a chain letter or a blog
"meme".  So what exactly are you calling a virus?

> A system that prevented Bob from doing the illegal/immoral thing would
> make him and Alice more secure. My original point was that POLA might
> not be sufficient to do this sort of thing. But if not POLA, then what
> could help protect Bob from himself?

Nothing, in the absolute.  I don't think this is a strong argument for
the insufficiency of POLA.  We can aim to make sure Bob is aware of the
potential risks of his actions, in terms and in a context he understands.
We can make more risky actions less probable than less risky actions.
The goal is not to eliminate all risk; it's to align Bob's understanding
of the risks with the actual risks.


-- ?!ng