Re: On Crypto API Safety in the Hands of Unskilled Developers

http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-webcrypto/2013Mar/0146.html

Since you asked for opinions, here is one:

I'm not particularly worried that somebody is going to pick a "weak" algorithm
because the current API is so hard to grasp (compared to what?).   I also wonder
how many lines of crypto-code a web app would typically need.  Most developers
will find the 10-20 required lines on "Stackoverflow" and similar web hangouts.
I would be surprised if large web-sites like Facebook don't hire people with adequate
competence.  If a minor site uses inferior crypto (or margnal solutions in general)
the sky won't fall down.

In my opinion the core issue is that we are talking about the web which presumably
involves _client-server_operations_ which translates to _protocols_.  History shows
that not even the best designers get it right all the time.

Regarding the proposed High-level API I'm pretty much against it:
In a client-server world "smart" methods that select the currently most fashionable
algorithms will only lead to non-interoperability.

Anders

Received on Friday, 29 March 2013 04:45:43 UTC