[Babel-users] Babel security [was: 57 forks of babel on github]

[Juliusz Chroboczek]

> One of my issues with crypto, rather than auth, is I'd wanted a way to
> have a partially untrusted network to bootstrap off of and/or to allow at
> least some unauthed or uncrypted nodes to participate with filters or inflated
> metrics.

The important thing to understand is that both security mechanisms that
we're currently developing protect Babel messages.  We're not attempting
to secure Babel updates end-to-end.

Both security models use auth per-interface.  Either you allow anyone to
associate on a given interface, or you require crypto on that interface.

So in order to build a partially untrusted network:

  - set up security for your backbone links, either at the application
    layer (DTLS or HMAC), or at the link layer (WPA2, 802.1X) or at the
    physical layer (a guy or gal with an AK47 (Chinese clones will do) in
    front of every Ethernet socket);
  - set up strict filtering rules for your guest interfaces;
  - set up ingress firewall rules for your guest interfaces;
  - allow anyone to associate on the guest interfaces.

To restate -- there is no way in Babel currently to have end-to-end
signatures on route announcements.  Doing that properly is difficult,
and as far as I'm aware nobody is working on it.

-- Juliusz