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[ietf-dkim] What DKIM provides, again

2010-10-13 13:51:18
-----Original Message-----
From: ietf-dkim-bounces(_at_)mipassoc(_dot_)org 
[mailto:ietf-dkim-bounces(_at_)mipassoc(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of Jeff Macdonald
Sent: Wednesday, October 13, 2010 11:27 AM
To: DKIM
Subject: Re: [ietf-dkim] detecting header mutations after signing

<rant>
Count me as one of those who was confused early on about what DKIM
provides. DKIM seems to make assurances to message integrity. But it
doesn't. I think the reason why many think it does is because of the
body hash. It is trying to do to much. It should just provide an
identifier that can be verified. Instead of using the body for
hashing, use the Message-ID header along with the Date header and just
hash that. That way most folks would understand DKIM is just providing
an Identifier.
</rant>

Then you send me a piece of signed mail, I change everything except the 
Message-ID and Date, and send it to someone else.  And the verifier will 
green-light it, meaning you've taken responsibility for it.  Are you OK with 
that?

My way of thinking about this is that verification of a message is equivalent 
to collecting all the pieces (header, body, signature) and coming to you and 
saying "Do you take responsibility for this?"  If I get your public key from 
DNS and everything lines up, you're implicitly saying "yes".

Now, if I remove the whole body and most of the header from what I'm presenting 
to you for that question, you're now possibly saying "yes" to content you 
didn't create.  Are you OK with that?


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