[MUD-Dev] Star Wars Galaxies: 1 character per server

[Dubious Advocate]

From: "Amanda Walker" <amanda at alfar.com>

> A good rule of thumb is that if your information security depends
> on an algorithm remaining secret, your security architecture is
> vulnerable.  This is the infosec version of "never trust the
> client"

Precisely.  In my sphere we work mainly with Java2 and dotNet.
There is no security except the deceptively "secure" use of
obfuscators, or abstraction of the work product.  We thrive through
an arms race combining innovation and value-add.

This is something game industry industry participants are about to
learn most heartfelt.  This industry is barely out of the pioneering
stage.  The Central MOG industry is a year away from significant
shakeout.  My guess is the survivors will be today's participants
(e.g. EQx & DAOC), and the wholely large & comprehensive (SWG).  I'm
watching AC2 and E&B as bellwethers.

The lesson I learned in the mid-80s when the cracking of software
protection was far more fascinating to me than the products they
wrapped, is that nothing intangibly transmitted over a communication
medium is safe.  Whether that medium is internal to the host system,
the wire, or the ether.  Protecting an algorithm only works when the
operating itself is physically secure and the work product
abstracted.

Better to put resources into innovation.  And value-add.

-----
Dave Scheffer
"Questions are a burden to others, answers a prison for oneself"


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