[Cryptography] recommending ChaCha20 instead of RC4 (RC4 again)

[Peter Gutmann]

<dan at geer.org> writes:

>* Embedded systems that have a remote management interface must be certified
>by their maker to be designed such that when said remote management interface
>is operated according to spec, the maker shall be found negligent, per se,
>were the management interface found to have been be jimmied by an attacker.
>
>* Embedded systems that have no remote management interface shall be so
>designed as to die without fail no later than some fixed time, which time is
>stated in advance.

The problem this runs into is that in the embedded world security is job #9,
after reliability/availability, reliability/availability,
reliability/availability, reliability/availability, reliability/availability,
reliability/availability, reliability/availability, and
reliability/availability.

(A lesser problem is that the devices are mostly built by hardware guys for 
whom software development consists of "it compiles, ship it".  Obviously 
that's an over-generalisation, but I don't know how much embedded stuff I've 
looked at that has beautifully-engineered hardware and software that looks 
like someone's incomplete undergrad project.  That's an issue that you can try 
and legislate though, with the emphasis on "try").

Peter.