This document summarizes a lecture on the history of computer security and policy. It discusses how security evolved from protecting physical documents and media during batch computing to addressing networked systems and new threats. A key report by James Anderson identified emerging issues like time-sharing, communication, and networking. It also examines the development of security research and guidance from the Department of Defense in the 1970s and 1980s.
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Lecture two
1. CS 591: Introduction to
Computer Security
Lecture 3:
History and Policy
By Kenneth Ayebazibwe
Saturday, February
09, 2013
2. Military Security
Protection of information has been part of
warfare throughout recoded history
World War II and the Cold War led to a
common protective marking scheme for
documents [Ross Anderson; 7.3.1]
Top Secret
Secret
Confidential
Open
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3. Batch Computing
Early computers were simple, small
machines, with little persistent state
To run a job for a user, an operator would:
Mount the removable media (disks and tapes)
requested by the user
Completely initialize the computer by pressing an
Initial Program Load button that read the boot
loader from the card deck supplied by the user
Execute the operating system loaded by the boot
loader, found on the removable media
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4. Secure batch computing
To make this style of batch computing
secure it was only necessary to focus
on
the physical security of the room,
insure that the state was initialized, and
handle all removable media according to
the rules for handling classified documents
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5. Cold War Computing
The cold war relied on aircraft capable
of dropping nuclear bombs
Aircraft need to know about weather
Global weather prediction was one of
the most important computational tasks
in the cold war
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6. Computer Communicate
Weather prediction needs input from
weather stations
The batch model of military computing
had to be abandoned
The security perimeter of the weather
prediction system was no longer the
computer room
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7. Practice beyond Policy
The weather system evolved to collect data
from around the globe and give reports to
pilots at Strategic Air Command centers
Recognizing that this practice was outside of
policy doctrine, the Air Force commissioned a
study on Computer Security
James P. Anderson wrote the report:
Computer Security Technology Planning
Study (1972)
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8. Andersons study
Forward looking study focused on
driving forces:
Time shared computing
Communication and Networking
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9. Andersons study
QuickTime and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
QuickTime and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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10. Anderson on networks
QuickTime and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
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11. The Insider Threat
QuickTime and a
decompressor
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12. The Handbook
QuickTime and a
decompressor
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13. DoD Security Research
With publication of Andersons report
significant research funds were
allocated to Computer Security
Two goals:
Solve aspects of the Security Problem as
articulated by Anderson
Give guidance to military procurement
officers on how to acquire secure
computing systems
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14. DoD Research dominates
70s
Although not all security challenges
were related to defense, defense
sponsored research dominates
publications in 70s and 80s
In that period Confidentiality was
stressed
The neglect of Availability would bite on
September 11, 2001
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16. Objectives
Explore what a security policy is;
develop a vocabulary to discuss
policies
Examine the role of trust in policy
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17. What is a Security Policy?
Statement that articulates the security goal
In the state machine model it identifies the
authorized or secure states (which are
distinct from the unauthorized or nonsecure
states)
A secure system is one in which the system
can only enter authorized states
Note: The policy doesnt make the system secure;
it defines what secure is
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18. Confidentiality
X: set of entities
I: some information
I has the property of confidentiality with
respect to X if no member of X can
obtain information about I
What is information?
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19. Confidentiality Scenario
If an instructor wishes to keep class grades
confidential from the students which of the
following can the instructor do?
Email the grade file to the class mailing list
Email an encrypted grade file to the class mailing
list
Email summary statistics (mean, median, max,
and min) to the class mailing list
What is information? What is data?
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20. Integrity
Bishop:
X, I as before
I has the property of integrity with respect to X if all
members of X trust I
Dictionary (http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/integrity)
1 : firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic
values : INCORRUPTIBILITY
2 : an unimpaired condition : SOUNDNESS
3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided :
COMPLETENESS
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21. Integrity
If Alice and Bob trust their horoscopes do
horoscopes have integrity?
If the users of a system trust the file system
does it have integrity?
Is it reasonable for integrity to be based on
user perception?
If the public loses confidence in voting
machines can even a perfect DRE machine
have integrity?
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22. Assurance
Assurance aims to provide intrinsic evidence
of integrity
We trust the integrity of the bank because we
intrinsically trust the accounting practices
used by banks
We also trust the bank because
The bank is audited for compliance with these
trusted practices
The banks data is scrutinized for signatures of
fraud
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23. Integrity
Although we may desire an intrinsic
notion of integrity we must accept the
perception of trust in the general case
If we do not have intrinsic assurance
the best we can demand is that no
agent can refute integrity
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24. Availability
Let X be a set of entities, I a resource
I has the property of availability with
respect to X if all members of X can
access I
What is access?
Quality of service is not always binary
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25. Setting the bar on access
Organizational context is critical
For a person, access sufficient to perform their
job function
Avionics system: micro-/milli second (some military
airframes are aerodynamically unstable; avionics
system is required to keep them in the air)
Air Traffic control: 100s of milliseconds
Airline reservations: 10s of seconds
[These numbers are notional]
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26. Access and Quality of Service
Behavior of service under load may be
important
Graceful degradation
QoS threshold
When is it better to do a few things
quickly than all things slowly?
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27. Dimensions of Policy
Policy defines security objective:
Confidentiality: Protect Information and
Resources I from X
Integrity: in a manner trusted by Y
Availability: to be accessible to Z
Mechanisms can be evaluated to determine if
they help meet the objective
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28. Does this model match
reality?
Recall PSU AUP
What facets focus on
Confidentiality: what is I? who/what is X?
Integrity: I? X?
Availability: I? X?
What facets are outside of this model?
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29. PSU Computer & Network
Acceptable Use Policy
This acceptable use policy governs the use of computers and networks
at Portland State University (PSU). As a user of these resources, you
are responsible for reading and understanding this document.
Portland State University encourages the use and application of
information technologies to support the research, instruction, and
public service mission of the institution. PSU computers and networks
can provide access to resources on and off campus, as well as the
ability to communicate with other users worldwide. Such open access
is a privilege and requires that individual users act responsibly. Users
must respect the rights of other users, respect the integrity of
systems and related physical resources, and observe all relevant laws,
regulations, and contractual obligations.
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30. PSU AUP (cont)
Acceptable use terms and conditions:
The primary purpose of electronic systems and communications resources is
for University-related activities only.
Users do not own accounts on University computers, but are granted the
privilege of exclusive use. Users may not share their accounts with others,
and must keep account passwords confidential.
Each account granted on a University system is the responsibility of the
individual who applies for the account. Groups seeking accounts must select
an individual with responsibility for accounts that represent groups.
The University cannot guarantee that messages or files are private or secure.
The University may monitor and record usage to enforce its policies and may
use information gained in this way in disciplinary and criminal proceedings.
Users must adhere strictly to licensing agreements and copyright laws that
govern all material accessed or stored using PSU computers and networks.
When accessing remote systems from PSU systems, users are responsible for
obeying the policies set forth herein as well as the policies of other
organizations.
Misuse of University computing, networking, or information resources may
result in the immediate loss of computing and/or network access. Any
violation of this policy or local, state, or federal laws may be referred to
appropriate University offices and/or, as appropriate, law enforcement
authorities.
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31. PSU AUP (cont)
Conduct which violates this policy includes, but is not limited to the
following:
Unauthorized attempts to view and/or use another persons accounts,
computer files, programs, or data.
Using PSU computers, accounts, and/or networks to gain unauthorized access
to University systems or other systems.
Using PSU computers, accounts, and/or networks for: threat of imminent
physical harm, sexual or other harassment, stalking, forgery, fraud, generally
offensive conduct, or any criminal activity.
Attempting to degrade performance of University computers and/or networks.
Attempting to deprive other users of University technology resources or access
to systems/networks.
Using University resources for commercial activity such as creating products or
services for sale.
Copying, storing, sharing, installing or distributing software, movies, music,
and other materials currently protected by copyright, except as permitted by
licensing agreements or fair use laws.
Unauthorized mass e-mailings to newsgroups, mailing lists, or individuals, i.e.
spamming or propagating electronic chain letters.
Unauthorized broadcasting of unsolicited mail, material, or information using
University computers/networks.
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32. Policies and the world
What about
Obey the law
Organizational consequences
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33. Policy model vs reality
Consider password policies (e.g. Sans
model policy
http://www.sans.org/resources/policies/)
What dimension of security do
password polices primarily address?
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34. Policy informed by experience
Most organizations have a policy that
has evolved
Reflects understanding of threat
environment (or at least threat history)
Can reveal critical assumptions
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35. Policy vs. Mechanism
Policy says what is allowed and what isnt
Mechanism is an entity or procedure that
enforces some part of the policy
Discuss
List some mechanisms
Facets of policy for which mechanisms are
appropriate
Facets of policy for which mechanisms are unlikely
to be appropriate
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36. Security Model
A security model is a model that
represents a particular policy or set of
policies
Abstracts from the policy
We will see various security models:
Bell LaPadula for Confidentiality
Clark-Willson Integrity
Chinese Wall Model
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37. Families of Policies
Military Security Policy (Governmental)
Primary goal: confidentiality
Commercial Security Policy
Primary goal: integrity
Common mechanism: transactions; transaction-
oriented integrity security policies
When you buy a book from Amazon you want to
get exactly what you ordered and pay for it exactly
once
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38. Assumptions and Trust
All policies have assumptions
Typically something is trusted:
Hardware will faithfully execute the program
Patch is uncorrupted from vendor
Vendor tested patch appropriately
Vendors environment similar to system being
patched
Patch is installed correctly
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39. Trust
What are some assumptions of
the PSU AUP?
The sans password policy?
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40. Access Control Policies
Discretionary Access Control (DAC)
An individual user can set allow or deny access to
an object
Mandatory Access Control (MAC)
System mechanism controls access
User cannot alter that access
Originator Controlled Access Control
(ORCON)
Access control set by creator of information
Owner (if different) cant alter AC
Like copyright
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41. Conclusions
Policy declares security goal
Policy can be understood in terms of security
components:
Confidentiality
Integrity
Availability
Policy is based on assumptions about the
environment
It is critical to understand what entitie the
policy trusts
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42. Looking Forward
Bell-LaPadula Model
Military style classification of information
Confidentiality
Reading:
Bell retrospective
Bishop: Chapter 5 (start 6 as well)
RA: Chapter 7
Background
What is a lattice?
Reading: Chapter 27
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