Re: [Detnet] Rtgdir last call review of draft-ietf-detnet-security-10

[Adrian Farrel <[e-mail]>]

I can't decide whether to get into this or not 😊

My review said, "It would be nice to avoid," not, "You must avoid."
The review is principally for the AD, and they will tell you whether you need to action this.
I made a constructive suggestion of an alternative phrase, but you are allowed to choose others.

The thing about the term "man-in-the-middle" is not that it is directly making a specific man appear evil, it is that it associates the word "man" with the concept "evil" and therefore subtly changes the long-term perception of "man". There is, in fact, nothing about this type of attack that is specific to a man, and not all attackers are men, nor are all men attackers.

This is a minor issue for me, and (to some extent) I wanted to experiment with draft-knodel-terminology to see what reaction it would get if the changes it suggests were made as a request rather than as an order.

Cheers,
Adrian

-----Original Message-----
From: Stewart Bryant <[e-mail]> 
Sent: 06 August 2020 13:52
To: Adrian Farrel <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]; [e-mail]; [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [Detnet] Rtgdir last call review of draft-ietf-detnet-security-10


> ---
> 
> It would be nice to avoid the term "man-in-the-middle" (and coresponding
> "MITM") in favour of the term "on-path attacker". It is less problematic
> as a term, and no less accurate.
> 
> Although "man-in-the-middle" is well established, I think you could
> easily avoid it and if you feel necessary you could use "An on-path
> attacker (formerly known as a man-in-the-middle) ..."

I sort of understand why you want to change MITM, although given that the man you have in mind is evil I am not sure whether it is that objectionable in this context. However I am not sure on-path is the right term. MITM normally implies an entity that can modify traffic in flight, whereas an on path attacker may simply be an observer.

Maybe AITM (attacker ....) would be a better gender neutral term.

Stewart