Home > General Rants & Raves > The Easiest $20 I ever saved…

The Easiest $20 I ever saved…

20dollarbillDuring the 2014 RSA Conference, I participated on a repeating panel with Bret Hartman, CTO of Cisco’s Security Business Unit and Martin Brown from BT.  The first day was moderated by Jon Olstik while the second day, the three of us were left to, um, self-moderate.

It occurred to me that during our very lively (and packed) second day wherein the audience was extremely interactive,  I should boost the challenge I made to the audience on day one by offering a little monetary encouragement in answering a question.

Since the panel was titled “Network Security Smackdown: Which Technologies Will Survive?,” I offered a $20 kicker to anyone who could come up with a legitimate counter example — give me one “network security” technology that has actually gone away in the last 20 years.

<chirp chirp>

Despite Bret trying to pocket the money and many folks trying valiantly to answer, I still have my twenty bucks.

I’ll leave the conclusion as an exercise for the reader.

/Hoff

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  1. March 12th, 2014 at 16:31 | #1

    I’d bite, but you didn’t define what you’d understand by “network security” and what the definition of “actually gone away” in the last 20 years would mean. 🙂

    Bastion hosts are not as prevalent now as they were 20 years ago. Moreover, what is understood and used now as bastion hosts is not quite what they were 20 years ago.

    ALG’s have gone away and came back under WAF and NGFW guise, so there goes that answer.

    I know! Data diodes. Haven’t heard talk of those since … nearly 20 years ago.

  2. anon
    April 10th, 2014 at 00:33 | #2

    xml firewalls

  3. May 30th, 2014 at 02:56 | #3

    XML firewalls, hmm, one of the largest banks in the world just bought one. or I meant to say a half dozen of those. Big blue sells XML firewalls, and you could check with a friend working there on their sales numbers.

  4. Gord Taylor
    July 30th, 2014 at 10:04 | #4

    Line encryptors. Everyone uses VPNs now, or IPSec, or other technology build directly into their router rather than dedicated hardware.

    • beaker
      August 3rd, 2014 at 09:01 | #5

      Ever visited a facility or connected to one run by the U.S. Government?

      HAIPE’s are not only still in use today, but they are still being upgraded/improved. Part of suite B and an extension to IPSec.

      BTW, HAIPE = High Assurance Internet Protocol Encryptor

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