Securing Systems

Internet attack on computer systems is pervasive. It can take from less than a minute to as much as eight hours for an unprotected machine connected to the Internet to be completely compromised. It is the information security architect's job to prevent attacks by securing computer systems. This book describes both the process and the practice of as

Can a system be considered truly reliable if it isn't fundamentally secure? Or can it be considered secure if it's unreliable? Security is crucial to the design and operation of scalable systems in production, as it plays an important part in product quality, performance, and availability. In this book, experts from Google share best practices to help your organization design scalable and reliable systems that are fundamentally secure. Two previous O’Reilly books from Google—Site Reliability Engineering and The Site Reliability Workbook—demonstrated how and why a commitment to the entire service lifecycle enables organizations to successfully build, deploy, monitor, and maintain software systems. In this latest guide, the authors offer insights into system design, implementation, and maintenance from practitioners who specialize in security and reliability. They also discuss how building and adopting their recommended best practices requires a culture that’s supportive of such change. You’ll learn about secure and reliable systems through: Design strategies Recommendations for coding, testing, and debugging practices Strategies to prepare for, respond to, and recover from incidents Cultural best practices that help teams across your organization collaborate effectively

The increased use of technology is necessary in order for industrial control systems to maintain and monitor industrial, infrastructural, or environmental processes. The need to secure and identify threats to the system is equally critical. Securing Critical Infrastructures and Critical Control Systems: Approaches for Threat Protection provides a full and detailed understanding of the vulnerabilities and security threats that exist within an industrial control system. This collection of research defines and analyzes the technical, procedural, and managerial responses to securing these systems.

Human factors and usability issues have traditionally played a limited role in security research and secure systems development. Security experts have largely ignored usability issues--both because they often failed to recognize the importance of human factors and because they lacked the expertise to address them. But there is a growing recognition that today's security problems can be solved only by addressing issues of usability and human factors. Increasingly, well-publicized security breaches are attributed to human errors that might have been prevented through more usable software. Indeed, the world's future cyber-security depends upon the deployment of security technology that can be broadly used by untrained computer users. Still, many people believe there is an inherent tradeoff between computer security and usability. It's true that a computer without passwords is usable, but not very secure. A computer that makes you authenticate every five minutes with a password and a fresh drop of blood might be very secure, but nobody would use it. Clearly, people need computers, and if they can't use one that's secure, they'll use one that isn't. Unfortunately, unsecured systems aren't usable for long, either. They get hacked, compromised, and otherwise rendered useless. There is increasing agreement that we need to design secure systems that people can actually use, but less agreement about how to reach this goal. Security & Usability is the first book-length work describing the current state of the art in this emerging field. Edited by security experts Dr. Lorrie Faith Cranor and Dr. Simson Garfinkel, and authored by cutting-edge security and human-computerinteraction (HCI) researchers world-wide, this volume is expected to become both a classic reference and an inspiration for future research. Security & Usability groups 34 essays into six parts: Realigning Usability and Security---with careful attention to user-centered design principles, security and usability can be synergistic. Authentication Mechanisms-- techniques for identifying and authenticating computer users. Secure Systems--how system software can deliver or destroy a secure user experience. Privacy and Anonymity Systems--methods for allowing people to control the release of personal information. Commercializing Usability: The Vendor Perspective--specific experiences of security and software vendors (e.g.,IBM, Microsoft, Lotus, Firefox, and Zone Labs) in addressing usability. The Classics--groundbreaking papers that sparked the field of security and usability. This book is expected to start an avalanche of discussion, new ideas, and further advances in this important field.

Electronic Security Systems is a book written to help the security professional understand the various electronic security functional components and the ways these components interconnect. Providing a holistic approach to solving security issues, this book discusses such topics as integrating electronic functions, developing a system, component philosophy, possible long-term issues, and the culture within a corporation. The book uses a corporate environment as its example; however, the basic issues can be applied to virtually any environment. For a security professional to be effective, he or she needs to understand the electronics as they are integrated into a total security system. Electronic Security Systems allows the professional to do just that, and is an invaluable addition to any security library. * Provides a well-written and concise overview of electronic security systems and their functions * Takes a holistic approach by focusing on the integration of different aspects of electronic security systems * Includes a collection of practical experiences, solutions, and an approach to solving technical problems

Front Cover; Dedication; Embedded Systems Security: Practical Methods for Safe and Secure Softwareand Systems Development; Copyright; Contents; Foreword; Preface; About this Book; Audience; Organization; Approach; Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 -- Introduction to Embedded Systems Security; 1.1What is Security?; 1.2What is an Embedded System?; 1.3Embedded Security Trends; 1.4Security Policies; 1.5Security Threats; 1.6Wrap-up; 1.7Key Points; 1.8 Bibliography and Notes; Chapter 2 -- Systems Software Considerations; 2.1The Role of the Operating System; 2.2Multiple Independent Levels of Security.

Traditionally, software engineers have defined security as a non-functional requirement. As such, all too often it is only considered as an afterthought, making software applications and services vulnerable to attacks. With the phenomenal growth in cybercrime, it has become imperative that security be an integral part of software engineering so that all software assets are protected and safe. Architecting Secure Software Systems defines how security should be incorporated into basic software engineering at the requirement analysis phase, continuing this sharp focus into security design, secured programming, security testing, and secured deployment. Outlines Protection Protocols for Numerous Applications Through the use of examples, this volume defines a myriad of security vulnerabilities and their resultant threats. It details how to do a security requirement analysis and outlines the security development lifecycle. The authors examine security architectures and threat countermeasures for UNIX, .NET, Java, mobile, and Web environments. Finally, they explore the security of telecommunications and other distributed services through Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The book employs a versatile multi-platform approach that allows users to seamlessly integrate the material into their own programming paradigm regardless of their individual programming backgrounds. The text also provides real-world code snippets for experimentation. Define a Security Methodology from the Initial Phase of Development Almost all assets in our lives have a virtual presence and the convergence of computer information and telecommunications makes these assets accessible to everyone in the world. This volume enables developers, engineers, and architects to approach security in a holistic fashion at the beginning of the software development lifecycle. By securing these systems from the project’s inception, the monetary and personal privacy catastrophes caused by weak systems can potentially be avoided.

This one-stop reference gives you the latest expertise on everything from access control and network security, to smart cards and privacy. Representing a total blueprint to security design and operations, this book brings all modern considerations into focus. It maps out user authentication methods that feature the latest biometric techniques, followed by authorization and access controls including DAC, MAC, and ABAC and how these controls are best applied in todayOCOs relational and multilevel secure database systems."