Networks Security And Complexity

The world is growing more interconnected every day, spun with fiber optic cable, electric power lines, transportation and water networks. Gorman provides a detailed analysis of the pattern of telecommunications networks and their interrelationships with other infrastructure. The work is truly interdisciplinary in scope, and provides planners, policy makers, security analysts, and infrastructure managers and educators in all of these fields with an invaluable resource in terms of a rich database, a methodology, and process for assembling, analyzing and portraying information on key infrastructure assets. This work emphasizes space and place in understanding interconnectivity of physical infrastructure, integrating policy and geography as well as providing an important complement to engineering approaches to interconnected infrastructure. He presents the readers with a broad set of questions and how they can be addressed about threats, risk and vulnerability and policy options for their reduction. This is a rare book of its kind, and joins a growing literature on how complexity is a key factor in understanding and setting policies for the services upon which our society depends. Rae Zimmerman, New York University, US The concepts of Critical Infrastructure Protection are radically redefining the relationship between the public and private sectors in terms of both our national and economic security. Networks, Security and Complexity is a worthy contribution in defining and advancing many of these concepts. The author is among the vanguard of rising young scholars who will assist this nation in thinking through the significant security challenges faced in the age of information and asymmetric threat. John A. McCarthy, George Mason University School of Law, US This volume on complex networks opens surprising perspectives for the interested reader, either a scientist or a policymaker. It describes and analyzes in a convincing way the significance of critical infrastructures, be it internet or transport connections. Due insight into the existence and emergence of such infrastructures is a prerequisite for an effective security policy. This study presents a model-based, operational framework for identifying critical domains in dynamic networks. The various concepts are illustrated by means of empirical case examples. Peter Nijkamp, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands The end of the 20th century witnessed an information revolution that introduced a host of new economic efficiencies. This economic change was underpinned by rapidly growing networks of infrastructure that have become increasingly complex. In this new era of global security we are now forced to ask whether our private efficiencies have led to public vulnerabilities, and if so, how do we make ourselves secure without hampering the economy. In order to answer these questions, Sean Gorman provides a framework for how vulnerabilities are identified and cost-effectively mitigated, as well as how resiliency and continuity of infrastructures can be increased. Networks, Security and Complexity goes on to address specific concerns such as determining criticality and interdependency, the most effective means of allocating scarce resources for defense, and whether diversity is a viable strategy. The author provides the economic, policy, and physics background to the issues of infrastructure security, along with tools for taking first steps in tackling these security dilemmas. He includes case studies of infrastructure failures and vulnerabilities, an analysis of threats to US infrastructure, and a review of the economics and geography of agglomeration and efficiency. This critical and controversial book will garner much attention and spark an important dialogue. Policymakers, security professionals, infrastructure operators, academics, and readers following homeland security issues will find this volume of great interest.

Leading international security expert Peter Sapaty introduces a new, high-level distributed processing and control approach capable of finding real-time solutions for irregularities, crises, and security problems emerging any time and in any part of the world.

Design your networks to successfully manage their growing complexity Network professionals have often been told that today's modern control planes would simplify their networks. The opposite has happened: Technologies like SDN and NFV, although immensely valuable, are exacerbating complexity instead of solving it. Navigating Network Complexity is the first comprehensive guide to managing this complexity in both deployment and day-to-day operations. Russ White and Jeff Tantsura introduce modern complexity theory from the standpoint of the working network engineer, helping you apply it to the practical problems you face every day. Avoiding complex mathematical models, they show how to characterize network complexity, so you can understand it and control it. The authors examine specific techniques and technologies associated with network control planes, including SDNs, fast reroute, segment routing, service chaining, and cloud computing. They reveal how each of these affects network design and complexity and help you anticipate causes of failure in highly complex systems. Next, they turn to modern control planes, examining the fundamental operating principles of SDNs, such as OpenFlow and I2RS, network and other service function virtualization, content distribution networks, Layer 2 fabrics, and service chaining solutions. You'll learn how each of these might both resolve and increase complexity in network design and operations and what you can do about it. Coverage includes: Defining complexity, understanding its components, and measuring it Mastering a straightforward "state, speed, and surface" model for analyzing complexity Controlling complexity in design, deployment, operations, protocols, and programmable networks Understanding how complex network systems begin to fail and how to prevent failure Recognizing complexity tradeoffs in service virtualization and service chaining Managing new challenges of complexity in virtualized and cloud environments Learning why constructs such as hierarchical design, aggregation, and protocol layering work and when they work best Choosing the right models to contain complexity as your network changes From start to finish, Navigating Network Complexity helps you assess the true impact of new network technologies, so they can capture more value with fewer problems.

Security and Privacy in Social Networks brings to the forefront innovative approaches for analyzing and enhancing the security and privacy dimensions in online social networks, and is the first comprehensive attempt dedicated entirely to this field. In order to facilitate the transition of such methods from theory to mechanisms designed and deployed in existing online social networking services, the book aspires to create a common language between the researchers and practitioners of this new area- spanning from the theory of computational social sciences to conventional security and network engineering.

Protection of enterprise networks from malicious intrusions is critical to the economy and security of our nation. This article gives an overview of the techniques and challenges for security risk analysis of enterprise networks. A standard model for security analysis will enable us to answer questions such as “are we more secure than yesterday” or “how does the security of one network configuration compare with another one”. In this article, we will present a methodology for quantitative security risk analysis that is based on the model of attack graphs and the Common Vulnerability Scoring System (CVSS). Our techniques analyze all attack paths through a network, for an attacker to reach certain goal(s).

This Springer Brief examines the tools based on attack graphs that help reveal network hardening threats. Existing tools detail all possible attack paths leading to critical network resources. Though no current tool provides a direct solution to remove the threats, they are a more efficient means of network defense than relying solely on the experience and skills of a human analyst. Key background information on attack graphs and network hardening helps readers understand the complexities of these tools and techniques. A common network hardening technique generates hardening solutions comprised of initially satisfied conditions, thereby making the solution more enforceable. Following a discussion of the complexity issues in this technique, the authors provide an improved technique that considers the dependencies between hardening options and employs a near-optimal approximation algorithm to scale linearly with the size of the inputs. Also included are automated solutions for hardening a network against sophisticated multi-step intrusions. Network Hardening: An Automated Approach to Improving Network Security is a valuable resource for researchers and professionals working in network security. It is also a useful tool for advanced-level students focused on security in computer science and electrical engineering.

One of the missions of the Center for Technology and National Security Policy at National Defense University is to study the transformation of America's military and to explore the consequences of the information revolution. To further this mission, National Defense University, in collaboration with The Center for Public Policy and Private Enterprise of the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, brought together leaders in the fields of military and commercial technology. The purpose of the meeting was to gain insight into the risks and vulnerabilities inherent in the use of information technology on the battlefield and in military systems. This volume presents the results of that workshop. This volume examines threats and vulnerabilities in the following four areas: (1) physical attacks on critical information nodes; (2) electromagnetic attacks against ground, airborne, or space-based information assets; (3) cyber attacks against information systems; and (4) attacks and system failures made possible by the increased level of complexity inherent in the multiplicity of advanced systems. Chapters are as follows: "Trends in Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Technologies," by Jacques S. Gansler and William Lucyshyn; "Physical Vulnerabilities of Critical Information Systems," by Robert H. Anderson; "Physical Vulnerabilities Exposed at the National Training Center," by Colonel John D. Rosenberger; "Dealing with Physical Vulnerabilities," by Bruce W. MacDonald; "Vulnerabilities to Electromagnetic Attack of Defense Information Systems," by John M. Borky; "Vulnerabilities to Electromagnetic Attack of the Civil Infrastructure," by Donald C. Latham; "Trends in Cyber Vulnerabilities, Threats, and Countermeasures," by Michael A. Vatis; "Enhancing Cyber Security for the Warfighter," by Sean R. Finnegan; "Complexity of Network Centric Warfare," by Stanley B. Alterman; and "Difficulties with Network Centric Warfare," by Charles Perrow.