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List:       best-of-security
Subject:    BoS: Windows NT C2|!C2
From:       Julian Assange <proff () suburbia ! net>
Date:       1995-11-01 0:13:39
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Date: Wed, 25 Oct 95 13:18:18 -0400
From: padgett@tccslr.dnet.mmc.com (A. Padgett Peterson)
Subject: What the large print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Amid all the "Windows NT (tm)(c)(r)(sm)(one of them) is C2" hoopla, one very
important fact seems to have been glossed over (Microsoft marketoids are
skilled at this sort of thing).

I was forwarded the following announcement from Compuserve. Have
independently verified the comment but not the posting I have excerpted. The
Windows NT security guide says the same thing on page 44 but the copyright
notice is so draconian that I do not know if I can quote from that.

>      MICROSOFT ANNOUNCES AVAILABILITY OF WINDOWS NT WORKS

> PR Newswire  18/9/95  9:04

> First Mainstream Commercial Operating System to Satisfy U.S. Department
>                   of Defense Criteria For C2 Security
>
>    REDMOND, Wash., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp.
> (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced the availability of Microsoft(R) Windows
> NT(TM) Workstation and Windows NT Server version 3.5, C2 Release,
> becoming the first vendor to satisfy C2 evaluation for mainstream,
> commercial operating systems.

Guess HP MPE V/E, Data General AOS, DEC VMS, and IBM VM/SP or VM/SP HPO
(all previously evaluated C2) do not count.

...(interesting part is about 30 lines further on)

>    "We are very pleased that both Windows NT Workstation and Windows NT
> Server version 3.5 have been added to the C2 Evaluated Products List,"
> said John Davis, director of the NCSC.  "Now that the base operating
> system has been through a very thorough and rigorous evaluation, we
> expect the networking components to take only a few months for full
> evaluation."

In other words, today the NT workstation & server lose their C2 evaluation
if either is connected to a network. Just a minor point.

Padgett

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