Comment by rapind
4 years ago
So it's like building a bridge... that needs to constantly withstand thousands of anonymous, usually untraceable, and always evolving terrorist attacks.
4 years ago
So it's like building a bridge... that needs to constantly withstand thousands of anonymous, usually untraceable, and always evolving terrorist attacks.
...in which the attackers have free access to copies of the bridge where they can silently test attack strategies millions of times per second for months or years on end.
The safety vs security distinction made above is fundamental. Developers are faced with solving an entire class of problems that is barely addressed by the rest of the engineering disciplines.
> where they can silently test attack strategies millions of times per second for months or years on end
Remotely, anonymously, at virtually no risk to themselves.
And then, when they finally perfect their technique, they can just sell or give away the plan to other people in an instant, who can then put it into practice almost for free, against any compatible bridge they like.
But its also a case where "perfect" exists. A case where you can, in principle, have perfect information about the internals of your bridge at any point. A case where you can, in theory, design the bridge to handle an infinite load from above.
In software, you can spec the behavior of your program. And then it is possible to code to that exact spec. It is also possible, with encryption and stuff, to write specs that are safe even when malicious parties have control over certain parts.
This is not to say that writing such specs is easy, nor that coding to an exact spec is easy. Heck, I would even doubt that it is possible to do either thing consistently. My point is, the challenge is a lot harder. But the tools available are a lot stronger.
Its not a lost cause just because the challenge is so much harder.
That kind of perfect is possible in math but not in software, which runs on physical machines and was written and verified by humans. It's like building your bridge inside a vacuum chamber with no entrances or exits—possible but not practical.
Or climate change.