> On 02 Dec 2016, at 10:18, Alice Wonder <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> DNSSEC locks the user into fingerprints signed by my private signing key. 
> This is not a signing key that the TLD has access to.
> 
> You can argue that a nefarious actor could create their own signing key and 
> get the TLD to sign the DS records associated with that key, but that is a 
> very visible action that would be seen in the DNS responses from the TLD. 
> It's out in the open.

Yes, unless you selectively serve out the signed records.

Quite honestly though, my main concern with DNSSEC as compared to HKPK is 
adoption-rate really.

With HKPK, we’re already at about 60%, and for some cases you can boost that by 
stearing users towards browsers with support.  That’s not something you can 
really do with DNSSEC, unless in a corporate setting or similar.


> On 02 Dec 2016, at 10:23, Alice Wonder <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> It can be a backup key that you have, but it can also be that of another CA. 
>>  Or completely random.  Bad idea, but the browsers would accept it.
> 
> Oh and for what it is worth, if you don't trust the CAs (I don't) then it 
> seems counter-productive to add a fingerprint from a CA that would allow the 
> CA to easily issue certificates that would then validate.

Originally I commented just for completeness, but having given it some more 
thought:

For a high-security setup, with a competent sysadmin-team, I absolutely agree.  
Much better to pin your live key, then two more that are cared for by different 
teams for example.

For a fresh sysadmin, dipping his toes into pinning for the first time, it can 
be a way to keep “get out of trouble”-card for a while.  If you pin two CAs, 
you’ve still cut the number of CAs that can sign for your domain by about 98%, 
which isn’t a bad place to start.

It can also be combined with a “report only” pin, that’s more strict.


Without having given it a huge amount of though over time, I could see myself 
making a recommendation for on-boarding into pinning along these lines:

0. Plan everything well, including success-critera for moving forward.
1. Make a report-only pin for your current and backup-key, as well as 2-3 
trusted CAs.
2. After results are in, move that to your primary pin.
3. Make a new stricter report only pin, covering only keys under your control.
4. After time has passed, you’ve done recovery drills, fixed your flaws etc, 
cycle in the tighter report-only pin as your “real” pin.

One key thing to keep in mind before getting to #4, is that the CA-pins will 
allow *other* people to recover from a disaster, not just the companys 
keymaster(s).  In some situations, that can be pretty significant.

> That may be useful for a private corporate certificate authority used on a 
> corporate network, but whether DANE or HPKP it is a bad idea to do it with a 
> public certificate authority.

Well, that really depends on what you’re comparing – what your alternatives are.

If you’re comparing pinning with only keys you control, against pinning 
CA-keys, obviously the former is more secure.

If you’re comparing with not pinning at all, I’d much rather have a PIN that 
drops the number of CAs that can sign for your domain by 98%.  It’s not 
perfect, but it does drop the number of trusted parties quite dramatically. 
You’re not giving the 2% a new ability to sign for your domain, they already 
can, you’re taking it away from the other 98%.  I’d certainly be interested in 
that. :-)

Terje

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