OT: Security threat from side channel attacks, linux vulnerable?

[Ed Greshko]

On 05/02/2012 08:59 AM, stan wrote:
> http://web.mit.edu/press/2012/thwarting-eavesdropping-data.html
>
> The above is a link to an article on a security threat called side
> channel attack.  I don't completely understand how it can work, as the
> description is somewhat vague.  But obviously some very intelligent
> people can understand it, and can make it work.  If someone is familiar
> with this area and could give a more detailed description, I'd
> appreciate it.
>
> The main question, though; is Fedora vulnerable to this sort of
> attack?  It sounds like it is a combination of hardware and software
> usage patterns that create the vulnerability, so do things like
> randomized heap make this impossible?
>

"Smart cautions, however, that the work of Goldwasser and her colleagues is unlikely
to yield practical applications in the near future. “In security, and especially
cryptography, it takes a long time to go from an academic idea to something that’s
actually used in the real world,” Smart says. “They’re looking at what could be
possible in 10, 20 years’ time.”

I'm not going to spend any time on this....and even if I did it would yield the same
results as my speculating on how to improve brain surgery.  :-) :-)

-- 
Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke
of the century. -- Dame Edna Everage