Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
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Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#2wow, too lame
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#3So, run it over a VPN.
I'm not saying that they shouldn't add security to their protocol, but I can think of several ways off the top of my head to stay secure. The application-layer protocol doesn't have to be the one to implement it, network-level encapsulation can help you there.
I'm not sure how old the protocol is, but perhaps it was more important to get it working and wrap it in a VPN and then iterate on that design.
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#4So, run it over a VPN. I'm not saying that they shouldn't add security to their protocol, but I can think of several ways off the top of my head to stay secure. The application-layer protocol doesn't have to be the one to implement it, network-level encapsulation can help you there. I'm not sure how old the protocol is, but perhaps it was more important to get it working and wrap it in a VPN and then iterate on that…
Agreed.
It looks as though the researchers saw that as a possibility too:
"It is possible to temporarily mitigate the flaw by implementing the following workaround: Researchers have demonstrated that ITP can be operated over TLS/DTLS, using certificate-based authentication to ensure the security and integrity of the protocol."
I don't really understand why this is only a "temporary mitigation", though, rather than a reasonable long-term solution. Can anyone enlighten me?
Maybe the extra technical complexity of setting up these certificates is deemed too great, and the likelihood of people getting it wrong too high?
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#5So, run it over a VPN. I'm not saying that they shouldn't add security to their protocol, but I can think of several ways off the top of my head to stay secure. The application-layer protocol doesn't have to be the one to implement it, network-level encapsulation can help you there. I'm not sure how old the protocol is, but perhaps it was more important to get it working and wrap it in a VPN and then iterate on that…
Agreed. It looks as though the researchers saw that as a possibility too: "It is possible to temporarily mitigate the flaw by implementing the following workaround: Researchers have demonstrated that ITP can be operated over TLS/DTLS, using certificate-based authentication to ensure the security and integrity of the protocol." I don't really understand why this is only a "temporary mitigation", though, rather than a…
I guess my confidence in the telerobot is lowered by the fact that the protocol doesn't ensure authenticity of surgery instructions. It leads me to believe what other flaws (including those outside the scope of security) exist.
Hopefully, we're still testing these surgeries on mice and not men.
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. It looks as though the researchers saw that as a possibility too: "It is possible to temporarily mitigate the flaw by implementing the following workaround: Researchers have demonstrated that ITP can be operated over TLS/DTLS, using certificate-based authentication to ensure the security and integrity of the protocol." I don't really understand why this is only a "temporary mitigation", though, rather than a…
I guess my confidence in the telerobot is lowered by the fact that the protocol doesn't ensure authenticity of surgery instructions. It leads me to believe what other flaws (including those outside the scope of security) exist. Hopefully, we're still testing these surgeries on mice and not men.
A VPN with only two valid certificates means that the guy holding the other cert (assuming you have one of them) is definitely who he says he is.
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#7So, run it over a VPN. I'm not saying that they shouldn't add security to their protocol, but I can think of several ways off the top of my head to stay secure. The application-layer protocol doesn't have to be the one to implement it, network-level encapsulation can help you there. I'm not sure how old the protocol is, but perhaps it was more important to get it working and wrap it in a VPN and then iterate on that…
The same VPNs that use weak DHE crypto?
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#8So, run it over a VPN. I'm not saying that they shouldn't add security to their protocol, but I can think of several ways off the top of my head to stay secure. The application-layer protocol doesn't have to be the one to implement it, network-level encapsulation can help you there. I'm not sure how old the protocol is, but perhaps it was more important to get it working and wrap it in a VPN and then iterate on that…
Agreed. It looks as though the researchers saw that as a possibility too: "It is possible to temporarily mitigate the flaw by implementing the following workaround: Researchers have demonstrated that ITP can be operated over TLS/DTLS, using certificate-based authentication to ensure the security and integrity of the protocol." I don't really understand why this is only a "temporary mitigation", though, rather than a…
Why is that a "temporary" fix? Segregating insecure protocols to VPNs, encrypted tunnels, and backchannel networks is one of the oldest most time-honored tools in the security design toolbox. Not only is it a real fix, but it's probably the right fix.
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#9So, run it over a VPN. I'm not saying that they shouldn't add security to their protocol, but I can think of several ways off the top of my head to stay secure. The application-layer protocol doesn't have to be the one to implement it, network-level encapsulation can help you there. I'm not sure how old the protocol is, but perhaps it was more important to get it working and wrap it in a VPN and then iterate on that…
The same VPNs that use weak DHE crypto? https://weakdh.org/
Just use IKEv2, and you won't be affected. Or just don't use MODP1024.
Re: Interoperable Telesurgery Protocol Plaintext Unauthenticated MitM Hijacking
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed. It looks as though the researchers saw that as a possibility too: "It is possible to temporarily mitigate the flaw by implementing the following workaround: Researchers have demonstrated that ITP can be operated over TLS/DTLS, using certificate-based authentication to ensure the security and integrity of the protocol." I don't really understand why this is only a "temporary mitigation", though, rather than a…
Why is that a "temporary" fix? Segregating insecure protocols to VPNs, encrypted tunnels, and backchannel networks is one of the oldest most time-honored tools in the security design toolbox. Not only is it a real fix, but it's probably the right fix.
Especially considering that protocol will be bound to expensive, long-living and heavily certified hardware, so it will stay there for decades.