> On May 16, 2015, at 9:41 PM, Michael Rash <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
>> On Sat, May 16, 2015 at 1:49 PM, Jonathan Bennett <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>> TL;DR: using qr codes to add keys to the android app.
>
> Now that would be a really cool feature. Copying symmetric keys around has
> always been an issue (obviously not just for fwknop, and this one reason
> fwknop supports GPG keys), so I think as long as people generally access the
> Luci interface via SSL/TLS (?) this would be reasonably secure and be a big
> boost to useability for mobile users.
>
>>
>> Fwknop/fwknopd is a very clever project. I've thought highly of it since
>> first learning about the novel approach to doing port knocking in a more
>> secure manner. There is one issue, though. It's hard to use. I'm not afraid
>> of the command line, and yes, it's quite possible to script the use of
>> fwknop to open ports. I've been thinking about usability and
>> noob-friendlyness in the past days, especially in regards to fwknop/d
>
> Completely agree that usability is lacking. Lately I've been spending most of
> my time on code coverage, fuzzing, etc. to try and ensure a high degree of
> security, but usability needs to be ramped up too. I think your Luci
> interface is huge in this area, and fwknop needs more efforts like this.
>
>>
>> There is a danger in trying to maximize usability. It's possible to
>> sacrifice freedom and or usefulness for usability. I am very much against
>> this trade-off.
>
> Agreed - fwknop has always maximized config options and capabilities I
> suppose, and this has come to some degree at the expense of usability. So
> far, the biggest contribution to usability has been Frank Joncourt's addition
> of the ~/.fwknoprc file so that people can easily reference consistent
> command line options from the client just with by naming the SPA destination
> with "-n <server>". This was a great addition, and we can do more like this.
Btw, I should have mentioned that Damien originally added the .fwknoprc file
Infrastructure, and Franck worked on a lot of variable processing code, etc.
It's all there in git history.
Mike
>
>>
>> With the new Luci module for openwrt, I feel like there is now an easy to
>> use option for configuring fwknopd on a router. For a home user that simply
>> wants to protect port 22 without locking himself out of his network, this is
>> perfect. I've intentionally avoided making this interface too simple. It's
>> easy to get started, but you can do everything from luci that you can do
>> with the command line interface, in regards to fwknopd.
>
> Very cool. This is definitely the first major step towards better useability
> on the server side of things.
>
>>
>> When I'm away from my desktop, for better or worse, I access the internet
>> through an android phone, an android tablet, or occasionally a customer's
>> desktop. Using the fwknop client from my android tablet isn't much of an
>> option. Yes, I could compile the binary and make it run in the android
>> terminal, etc, but that is a big hurdle to a typical user, and quite a pain,
>> even to those of us who can do it.
>>
>> I took a closer look at the android app today, and it has some great
>> potential. It also has, in my opinion, some issues. The lack of base64 key
>> support is a big one, and that is a known weakness that is planned to be
>> addressed. Another problem is the fact it tends to hang on launch, waiting
>> to verify external ip. Again, planned to be addressed.
>>
>> Once base64 is supported, typing both keys in every time one wants to open a
>> port is a bit crazy. This is easily fixed by making the keys savable. But on
>> further thought, it's a bit crazy to type the keys in even once.
>>
>> So, this leads me to a couple ideas, somewhat inspired by how openvpn
>> connect works. The first is a text file that contains both keys, and *maybe*
>> the ip address/hostname to connect to. I believe we could make openwrt
>> generate this file, and make it available from the luci interface. The end
>> user would then just install the fwknop android app, open the luci interface
>> on the phone, and grab the file. It could open automatically in the fwknop
>> app, and add the keys as a connection option. This format could be useful
>> for the cli interface, too.
>
> If the Android client could be made to essentially handle the ~/.fwknoprc
> file like the normal client, then on openwrt the Luci interface could just
> drive the client with '--key-gen --use-hmac --save-rc-stanza ...'. I guess
> this assumes the client is installed on openwrt as well. If there is a more
> natural style of file on Android for this type of data (xml maybe?) then the
> fwknop client could be updated to produce this format too, although a quick
> python wrapper around the existing ~/.fwknoprc format would probably be
> easier/faster.
>
>>
>> The second, slightly more outlandish option is to embed a qr code in the
>> luci interface. Add a qr scanning feature to the android app, and just scan
>> the qr code to add the keys. This *could* be the ultimate in usability. It
>> wouldn't be forced on anyone, but it could be there as an option. I
>> personally think this could be a really slick feature.
>>
>> It seems like either idea would be feasible. Any thoughts or ideas are
>> welcome. I might try to dive into the android code soonish, at least to get
>> a handle on what all is going on there.
>
> I think both ideas are excellent. The QR feature is definitely really slick.
>
> --Mike
>
>
>>
>> ~Jonathan Bennett
>
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