I completely agree with your statement below. If we are good any radio
will have the "Technical" capability to work with any database.
BUT, and this is a big BUT, the regulation may not allow it - The FCC does
not today. And as a DBA I only want to work with devices where I have a
predefined relationship. Not least of which, because as I am authorized by
a Regulator I want to make sure I am doing everything I can to avoid their
wrath.
This has come up before. PAWS is defining an API/Protocol, not the
regulation nor the business cases at this time. So I still say that we can
comply with your statement without considering a "User".

On MonSep/10/12 Mon Sep 10, 2:18 PM, "Peter McCann"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>This is a key question we need to answer.
>
>I thought we were defining a protocol that would allow a radio from any
>manufacturer to interoperate with a database of any database vendor.
>
>-Pete
>
>Peter Stanforth wrote:
>> Pete,
>> I am not sure I believe in a use case where "users" move from one DB
>> to another. The relationship is between the radio vendor and the DBA.
>> The radio vendor may have multiple relationships and allow an end user
>> to choose one, but it will be from the predefined list. As a DBA I
>> don't think I would want, and in the USA we are not permitted, to
>> establish a relationship with a user without a preexisting
>> relationship with the radio vendor. So security should be primarily a
>>radio vendor-DBA issue.
>> Wearing my DBA hat I don't think I would want to service a radio that
>> I do not have a preexisting relationship with it's manufacturer.  I am
>> not sure that user relationships are even within the scope of what
>> PAWS should be defining.
>> Peter S.
>> 
>> On MonSep/10/12 Mon Sep 10, 1:58 PM, "Peter McCann"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> 
>>> Personally, I think that manually provisioned symmetric keys will
>>> severely limit the ability for users to flexibly move from one database
>>> provider to another.  It will require some secure out-of-band channel
>>> on which to transmit the secret key from one party to the other, and a
>>> mechanism for the user to push the secret key down into the master
>>> device.
>>> 
>>> Provisioning of certificates does not require the secret channel,
>>> only one that is integrity protected.  I think this is much easier to
>>> achieve in practice.
>>> 
>>> -Pete
>>> 
>>> Stephen Farrell wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 09/07/2012 10:01 PM, [email protected] wrote:> At the Vancouver
>>>> F2F we had extensive discussions on the security model for PAWS.
>>>> Draft-das proposes to use shared secrets pre-provisioned in the master
>>>> devices for authentication, while draft-lei proposes to mandate client
>>>> certificates into master devices.
>>>>> 
>>>>> There seemed to be an understanding that the credential types in
>> use
>>>> for authentication are a matter of a business model chosen by the
>>>> provider which deploys white space devices, rather than a protocol
>>>> decision.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Brian mentioned that the iesg may not allow a document to be
>>>> published which specifies how shared secrets are used, but does not
>>>> have a provisioning mechanism for the shared secrets defined. In my
>>>> opinion, a mechanism for distributing shared secrets does not
>>>> necessarily have to be defined, as a shared secret can be established
>>>> using current practices to set up shared secrets with financial
>>>> institutions (using the browser).
>>>>> Thus, my suggestion would be to describe in the document how a
>>>>> shared
>>>> secret and how a client certificate is used to authenticate a master
>>>> device. Then, if we run into issues with iesg, in worst case we could
>>>> remove the shared secret part and keep the other one.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'd like to get additional views on this topic.
>>>> 
>>>> I can help a little here (depending on your definition of help:-)
>>>> 
>>>> BCP 107 [1] is the one to look at when considering how to approach
>>>> automated key management requirements. That has an IMO very good
>>>> abstract:
>>>> 
>>>>    The question often arises of whether a given security system
>>>>    requires some form of automated key management, or whether manual
>>>>    keying is sufficient.  This memo provides guidelines for making
>>>>    such decisions. When symmetric cryptographic mechanisms are used in
>>>>    a protocol, the presumption is that automated key management is
>>>>    generally but not always needed.  If manual keying is proposed, the
>>>>    burden of proving that automated key management is not required
>>>>    falls to the
>> proposer.
>>>> For those that might be less familiar with IETF processes, the fact
>>>> that that's a BCP means that its entirely valid for an AD to
>>>> strenuously push back against a WG that wants to ignore what it says.
>>>> 
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> S.
>>>> 
>>>> PS: I've not read the drafts, and couldn't make the session in
>>>> Vancouver, so this might be entirely off topic, but in the case of
>>>> PAWS I'd also argue that the regulators' apparent desire to force
>>>> devices to authenticate is not necessarily the right one for the IETF
>>>> to force upon all users of the PAWS protocol. So there could for
>>>> example be a mode of operation where the DB signs stuff but doesn't
>>>> care who's asking and that'd be a far far easier scenario in terms of
>>>> automated key management.
>>>> 
>>>> [1] http://tools.ietf.org/html/bcp107
>>>> _______________________________________________ paws mailing list
>>>> [email protected] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/paws
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
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>
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