Re: secure tcp ports

Hiya

Most protocols have a clearly defined server response to unknown client
requests (much like the HTML "if you don't know it ignore it" rule).  IOW,
if a news server gets a strange command from a client,  the protocol says
it must return with something like "500 Que?".

"nntps" just means "establish a secure news connection.  fail if you
cannot".  Whether that secure connection goes to the same or a different
port is immaterial.  Saying that the same port is more subject to DOS
attacks is silly:  you wouldn;t expect Navigator to connect to port 80 if
port 443 failed,  would you?

I think all:

   - command oriented
   - interactive

protocols  (NNTP, SMTP, POP3,  IMAP4 etc) can be upgraded to support TLS
negotiation just by the addition of a single client command.  Making the
server be able to initiate secure session negotiation is harder because
most of these protocols are client-driven.  But I'll comment further on
Monday.

--
Mark Shuttleworth
Thawte Consulting