Problem and Applicability Statement for Better-Than-Nothing Security (BTNS)
RFC 5387

Approval announcement
Draft of message to be sent after approval:

Announcement

From: The IESG <iesg-secretary@ietf.org>
To: IETF-Announce <ietf-announce@ietf.org>
Cc: Internet Architecture Board <iab@iab.org>,
    RFC Editor <rfc-editor@rfc-editor.org>, 
    btns mailing list <btns@ietf.org>, 
    btns chair <btns-chairs@tools.ietf.org>
Subject: Document Action: 'Problem and Applicability Statement 
         for Better Than Nothing Security (BTNS)' to Informational RFC 

The IESG has approved the following document:

- 'Problem and Applicability Statement for Better Than Nothing Security 
   (BTNS) '
   <draft-ietf-btns-prob-and-applic-08.txt> as an Informational RFC

This document is the product of the Better-Than-Nothing Security Working 
Group. 

The IESG contact persons are Tim Polk and Pasi Eronen.

A URL of this Internet-Draft is:
http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-btns-prob-and-applic-08.txt

Ballot Text

Technical Summary

   The Internet network security protocol suite, IPsec, consisting of
   IKE, ESP, and AH, generally requires authentication of network layer
   entities to bootstrap security. This authentication can be based on
   mechanisms such as pre-shared symmetric keys, certificates and
   associated asymmetric keys, or the use of Kerberos. The need to
   deploy authentication information and its associated identities to
   network layer entities can be a significant obstacle to use of
   network security. This document explains the rationale for extending
   the Internet network security suite to enable use of IPsec security
   mechanisms without authentication. These extensions are intended to
   protect communication in a "better than nothing" (BTNS) fashion. The
   extensions may be used on their own (Stand Alone BTNS, or SAB), or
   may be useful in providing network layer security that can be
   authenticated by higher layers in the protocol stack, called Channel
   Bound BTNS (CBB). This document also explains situations in which use
   of SAB and CBB extensions are appropriate.

Working Group Summary

   This document is a product of the Better Than Nothing Security (BTNS)
   working group.

Document Quality

This document was reviewed by Sam Hartman for the IESG.
Personnel

   The Document Shepherd for this document is Julien Laganier (BTNS
   co-chair) and the Responsible Area Director is Tim Polk.

RFC Editor Note