Description

Whether you're a security practitioner, developer, manager, or administrator, this book will give you the deep understanding necessary to meet today's security challenges--and anticipate tomorrow's. Unlike most books, The Craft of System Security doesn't just review the modern security practitioner's toolkit: It explains why each tool exists, and discusses how to use it to solve real problems.

After quickly reviewing the history of computer security, the authors move on to discuss the modern landscape, showing how security challenges and responses have evolved, and offering a coherent framework for understanding today's systems and vulnerabilities. Next, they systematically introduce the basic building blocks for securing contemporary systems, apply those building blocks to today's applications, and consider important emerging trends such as hardware-based security.

After reading this book, you will be able to

• Understand the classic Orange Book approach to security, and its limitations
• Use operating system security tools and structures--with examples from Windows, Linux, BSD, and Solaris
• Learn how networking, the Web, and wireless technologies affect security
• Identify software security defects, from buffer overflows to development process flaws
• Understand cryptographic primitives and their use in secure systems
• Use best practice techniques for authenticating people and computer systems in diverse settings
• Use validation, standards, and testing to enhance confidence in a system's security
• Discover the security, privacy, and trust issues arising from desktop productivity tools
• Understand digital rights management, watermarking, information hiding, and policy expression
• Learn principles of human-computer interaction (HCI) design for improved security
• Understand the potential of emerging work in hardware-based security and trusted computing

Table of Contents

Preface  xxiii
Acknowledgments  xxxi

Part I: History  1

Chapter 1: Introduction  3

1.1  The Standard Rubric  4
1.2  The Matrix  7
1.3  Other Views  9
1.4  Safe States and the Access Control Matrix  16
1.5  Other Hard Questions  18
1.6  The Take-Home Message  21
1.7  Project Ideas  22

Chapter 2: The Old Testament  23

2.1  The Basic Framework  23
2.2  Security Models  25
2.3  The Orange Book  33
2.4  INFOSEC, OPSEC, JOBSEC  43
2.5  The Take-Home Message  43
2.6  Project Ideas  43

Chapter 3: Old Principles, New World  45

3.1  Solving the Wrong Problem?  46
3.2  Lack of Follow-Through?  48
3.3  Too Unwieldy?  49
3.4  Saltzer and Schroeder  53
3.5  Modern Relevance  56
3.6  The Take-Home Messagev57
3.7  Project Ideas  57

Part II: Security and the Modern Computing Landscape  59

Chapter 4: OS Security  61

4.1  OS Background  61
4.2  OS Security Primitives and Principles  68
4.3  Real OSes: Everything but the Kitchen Sink  73
4.4  When the Foundation Cracks  77
4.5  Where Are We?  82
4.6  The Take-Home Message  86
4.7  Project Ideas  86

Chapter 5: Network Security  87

5.1  Basic Framework    88
5.2  Protocols  99
5.3  The Network as a Battlefield  104
5.4  The Brave New World  112
5.5  The Take-Home Message  121
5.6  Project Ideas  121

Chapter 6: Implementation Security  123

6.1  Buffer Overflow  124
6.2  Argument Validation and Other Mishaps  132
6.3  TOCTOU  139
6.4  Malware  140
6.5  Programming Language Security  143
6.6  Security in the Development Lifecycle  148
6.7  The Take-Home Message  152
6.8  Project Ideas  152

Part III: Building Blocks for Secure Systems  155

Chapter 7: Using Cryptography  157

7.1    Framework and Terminology  158
7.2    Randomness  161
7.3    Symmetric Cryptography  163
7.4    Applications of Symmetric Cryptography  172
7.5    Public-Key Cryptography  174
7.6    Hash Functions  180
7.7    Practical Issues: Public Key  183
7.8    Past and Future  186
7.9    The Take-Home Message  187
7.10  Project Ideas  187

Chapter 8: Subverting Cryptography  189

8.1 Breaking Symmetric Key without Brute Force  190
8.2 Breaking Symmetric Key with Brute Force  192
8.3 Breaking Public Key without Factoring  194
8.4 Breaking Cryptography via the Real World  202
8.5 The Potential of Efficiently Factoring Moduli  209
8.6 The Take-Home Message  212
8.7 Project Ideas  213

Chapter 9: Authentication  215

9.1  Basic Framework  216
9.2  Authenticating Humans  217
9.3  Human Factors  220
9.4  From the Machine's Point of View  223
9.5  Advanced Approaches  226
9.6  Case Studies  237
9.7  Broader Issues  243
9.8  The Take-Home Message  247
9.9  Project Ideas  248

Chapter 10: Public Key Infrastructure  249

10.1    Basic Definitions  250
10.2    Basic Structure  252
10.3    Complexity Arrives  253
10.4    Multiple CAs  258
10.5    Revocation  262
10.6    The X.509 World  265
10.7    Dissent 268
10.8    Ongoing Trouble  271
10.9    The Take-Home Message  273
10.10  Project Ideas  273

Chapter 11: Standards, Compliance, and Testing  275

11.1  Standards  276
11.2  Policy Compliance  282
11.3  Testing  289
11.4  The Take-Home Message  297
11.5  Project Ideas  298

Part IV: Applications  299

Chapter 12: The Web and Security  301

12.1  Basic Structure  302
12.2  Security Techniques  316
12.3  Privacy Issues  329
12.4  Web Services  334
12.5  The Take-Home Message  336
12.6  Project Ideas  337

Chapter 13: Office Tools and Security  339

13.1  Word  340
13.2  Lotus 1-2-3  350
13.3  PDF  351
13.4  Cut-and-Paste  355
13.5  PKI and Office Tools  357
13.6  Mental Models  360
13.7  The Take-Home Message  363
13.8  Project Ideas  363

Chapter 14: Money, Time, Property  365

14.1  Money  366
14.2  Time  376
14.3  Property  381
14.4  The Take-Home Message  387
14.5  Project Ideas  387

Part V: Emerging Tools  389

Chapter 15: Formal Methods and Security  391

15.1  Specification  392
15.2  Logics  395
15.3  Cranking the Handle  403
15.4  Case Studies  404
15.5  Spinning Your Bank Account  404
15.6  Limits  405
15.7  The Take-Home Message  407
15.8  Project Ideas  409

Chapter 16: Hardware-Based Security  411

16.1  Data Remanence  412
16.2  Attacks and Defenses  415
16.3  Tools  423
16.4  Alternative Architectures  434
16.5  Coming Trends  440
16.6  The Take-Home Message  447
16.7  Project Ideas  447

Chapter 17: In Search of the Evil Bit  449

17.1  The AI Toolbox  451
17.2  Application Taxonomy  455
17.3  Case Study  458
17.4  Making it Real  464
17.5  The Take-Home Message  466
17.6  Project Ideas  466

Chapter 18: Human Issues  467

18.1  The Last Mile  468
18.2  Design Principles  472
18.3  Other Human-Space Issues  481
18.4  Trust  483
18.5  The Take-Home Message  485
18.6  Project Ideas  485

The Take-Home Lesson  487

Appendix A: Exiled Theory  489

A.1  Relations, Orders, and Lattices  490
A.2  Functions  491
A.3  Computability Theory  492
A.4  Frameworks  496
A.5  Quantum Physics and Quantum Computation  497

Bibliography  503
Index  525

Back Cover

'I believe The Craft of System Security is one of the best software security books on the market today. It has not only breadth, but depth, covering topics ranging from cryptography, networking, and operating systems--to the Web, computer-human interaction, and how to improve the security of software systems by improving hardware. Bottom line, this book should be required reading for all who plan to call themselves security practitioners, and an invaluable part of every university's computer science curriculum.'
--Edward Bonver, CISSP, Senior Software QA Engineer, Product Security, Symantec Corporation

'Here's to a fun, exciting read: a unique book chock-full of practical examples of the uses and the misuses of computer security. I expect that it will motivate a good number of college students to want to learn more about the field, at the same time that it will satisfy the more experienced professional.'
--L. Felipe Perrone, Department of Computer Science, Bucknell University

Whether you're a security practitioner, developer, manager, or administrator, this book will give you the deep understanding necessary to meet today's security challenges--and anticipate tomorrow's. Unlike most books, The Craft of System Security doesn't just review the modern security practitioner's toolkit: It explains why each tool exists, and discusses how to use it to solve real problems.

After quickly reviewing the history of computer security, the authors move on to discuss the modern landscape, showing how security challenges and responses have evolved, and offering a coherent framework for understanding today's systems and vulnerabilities. Next, they systematically introduce the basic building blocks for securing contemporary systems, apply those building blocks to today's applications, and consider important emerging trends such as hardware-based security.

After reading this book, you will be able to

• Understand the classic Orange Book approach to security, and its limitations
• Use operating system security tools and structures--with examples from Windows, Linux, BSD, and Solaris
• Learn how networking, the Web, and wireless technologies affect security
• Identify software security defects, from buffer overflows to development process flaws
• Understand cryptographic primitives and their use in secure systems
• Use best practice techniques for authenticating people and computer systems in diverse settings
• Use validation, standards, and testing to enhance confidence in a system's security
• Discover the security, privacy, and trust issues arising from desktop productivity tools
• Understand digital rights management, watermarking, information hiding, and policy expression
• Learn principles of human-computer interaction (HCI) design for improved security
• Understand the potential of emerging work in hardware-based security and trusted computing

Author

Professor Sean Smith has been working in information security--attacks and defenses, for industry and government--since before there was a Web. As a post-doc and staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory, he performed security reviews, designs, analyses, and briefings for a wide variety of public-sector clients; at IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, he designed the security architecture for (and helped code and test) the IBM 4758 secure coprocessor, and then led the formal modeling and verification work that earned it the world's first FIPS 140-1 Level 4 security validation. In July 2000, Sean left IBM for Dartmouth, since he was convinced that the academic education and research environment is a better venue for changing the world. His current work, as PI of the Dartmouth PKI/Trust Lab, investigates how to build trustworthy systems in the real world. Sean was educated at Princeton (A.B., Math) and CMU (M.S., Ph.D., Computer Science), and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.

Dr. John Marchesini received a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Houston in 1999 and, after spending some time developing security software for BindView, headed to Dartmouth to pursue a Ph.D. There, he worked under Professor Sean Smith in the PKI/Trust lab designing, building, and breaking systems. John received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth in 2005 and returned to BindView, this time working in BindView's RAZOR security research group. He conducted numerous application penetration tests and worked closely with architects and developers to design and build secure systems. In 2006, BindView was acquired by Symantec and he became a member of Symantec's Product Security Group, where his role remained largely unchanged. John recently left Symantec and is now the Principal Security Architect at EminentWare LLC.