
Linux creator explains why a truly secure computing platform will never exist - rottyguy
http://bgr.com/2015/09/25/linus-torvalds-quotes-interview-linux-security/
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vezzy-fnord
The thing is we haven't really been trying. Capability-based security is still
an academic niche, thread-level parallelism never managed to take on
instruction-level parallelism, high-level computer architectures barely
receive interest anymore. System programming with a GC is considered anathema,
and microkernels have been demonized (in no small part thanks to Torvalds
himself).

I don't know if a "truly secure computing platform" can exist, but one cannot
derive assumptions from the current landscape.

~~~
haberman
You might like [https://sandstorm.io/](https://sandstorm.io/). Among other
things it seeks to bring capability-based security to the mainstream.

~~~
vezzy-fnord
I'm aware of it. I know that Kenton Varda has spoke in support of capabilities
before and I appreciate said viewpoint. I have not studied Sandstorm deep
enough to know whether it's really a security tool. I'm under the impression
that its main goal is to enable easy self-hosting of server-side applications.

~~~
haberman
> I have not studied Sandstorm deep enough to know whether it's really a
> security tool. I'm under the impression that its main goal is to enable easy
> self-hosting of server-side applications.

Check out this:

> Sandstorm is a security product.

> We like to say that Sandstorm's priorities are Usability, Security, and
> Freedom. In public, we tend to talk more about usability and freedom,
> because those are the priorities users are most excited about. However,
> within the team, we are just as passionate -- if not more so -- about
> security.

> Ultimately, our goal is that, to the maximum extent possible, users need not
> worry about security, because using the system intuitively will result in
> the desired security properties "by default". Moreover, we aim to allow
> network administrators to be able to say: "As long as it's on Sandstorm, you
> can run whatever apps you want, because we trust Sandstorm to keep things
> secure."

[https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-
practices...](https://docs.sandstorm.io/en/latest/using/security-practices/)

------
jupiter2
"Torvalds talked about security as something unattainable in a Perfect Sense".
I would have been more curious to hear his response about Security in the Real
Sense.

Given what most current OSes are engaged in: surveillance, tracking, data-
warehousing, data-sharing with untold/unnamed "trusted" partners, civil rights
violations, illegal search/seizure, 5th amendment rights violations, etal...
his answer skirts the issue entirely.

I guess... what he was saying is that he's like Linux (The Kernel). To
paraphrase him: He's an enabler. Perhaps an imp. Something totally hidden and
out of people's mind when it comes to how OSes have been weaponized against
people. He has no position on the matter.

------
TazeTSchnitzel
Reading this on mobile, I accidentally tapped no less than three ads, having
to then go back, close the bottom ad banner again and re-find my place.

Ugh. This is why people use ad blockers.

~~~
iokanuon
Even with just a simple hosts file, I can't see any ads on mobile. It's
amazing that by just blocking domains we can archeive that. The web is
awesomely flexible.

~~~
informatimago
Because happily so far they serve the ads from different hosts than the
content. I worry for the day when they will serve from the same, and don't
provide the contents until you fetched and displayed the ads.

------
agwa
Automotive security is such a terrible example for the security/usability
tradeoff. Cars would be no less usable, but incredibly more secure, if they
simply isolated the brakes on a separate CAN bus.

Security/usability tradeoffs do exist, but it's not zero-sum. Linus seems to
think it is, which is why Linux will never come close to being a truly secure
computing platform.

------
digi_owl
And the discussion descends into the exact kind of security absolutism that he
was warning about...

~~~
pointfree
With all due respect, Linus doesn't know everything. Lately he's been abusing
his cult of personality to ultracrepidate on topics such as machine learning
[https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3ciqkl/linux_c...](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/3ciqkl/linux_creator_linus_torvalds_laughs_at_the_ai/)
and now provable security.

~~~
digi_owl
What i see is one guy giving his honest opinion during a public event.

He does not bring up the topic, others do. But when they do, he gives an
honest response.

