Monday, January 05, 2015

Secure computing can be easy to use

Thanks to the PowerBox pattern, capability based security can be fairly easy to use, and in many use cases, it can be almost click for click identical with current ways of getting things done.

A PowerBox is a traditional file dialog box, with a twist in that the results give capabilities (similar to file handles) to an application, instead of just letting the application grab resources as required. The end result is a system in which an application is never directly trusted, and only gets the resources the user decides are appropriate to provide. 

The Genode operating system provides such a system called nit-picker (if my reading is correct)... and this could have been done as long ago as 1995 for Windows, if the need for better security was more apparent back then...

Your computer can be safe, secure, and easy to use.... but we have to demand change to get there.

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