Security is the bits you disable before you ship

[Peter Gutmann]

>From a news.com story about features of gcc 4.0, available at
http://news.com.com/Key+open-source+programming+tool+due+for+overhaul/2100-7344_3-5615886.html

  Key open-source programming tool due for overhaul
  Published: March 14, 2005, 10:46 AM PST
  By Stephen Shankland
  Staff Writer, CNET News.com

  [...]

  GCC 4.0 also introduces a security feature called Mudflap, which adds extra
  features to the compiled program that check for a class of vulnerabilities
  called buffer overruns, Mitchell said. Mudflap slows a program's
  performance, so it's expected to be used chiefly in test versions, then
  switched off for finished products.

So you have an interesting definition of a security feature as "the bit you
disable before the product goes into the environment where it'll be subject to
attack".

Peter.

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