DEBRE MARKOS UNIVERSITY

BURIE CAMPUS
DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

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Chapter One: Introduction to Computer Security

1.1 Basic concepts of computer security:
♥ Security is “the quality or state of being secure—to be free from
danger.” In other words, protection against adversaries—from
those who would do harm, intentionally or otherwise—is the
objective.
♥ Computer security protection of computer system and information
from harm, theft and unauthorized use.
♥ Computer security is the protection of the items you value, called
the assets of a computer or computer system.
♥ There are many types of assets, involving hardware, software,
data, people, processes, or combinations of these.
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Cont’d
♥ To determine what to protect, we must first identify what has value and
to whom.
♥ A computer device (including hardware, added components, and
accessories) is certainly an asset. Because most computer hardware is
pretty useless without programs, the software is also an asset.
♥ Software includes the operating system, utilities and device handlers;
applications such as word processing, media players or email handlers;
and even programs that you may have written yourself.
♥ Computer facilities have been physically protected for three reasons:
✓ To prevent theft of or damage to the hardware
✓ To prevent theft of or damage to the information 3/2/2018

✓ To prevent disruption of service

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1.2 threats, vulnerabilities, controls, risk

♥ The goal of computer security is protecting valuable assets. To study
different ways of protection, we use a framework that describes how
assets may be harmed and how to counter or mitigate that harm.

1.2.1 Threats
♥ A threat to a computing system is a set of circumstances that has the
potential to cause loss or harm. A threat is an undesirable negative
impact on your assets.

♥ A threat is a potential violation of security. The violation need not

actually occur for there to be a threat.
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♥ The fact that the violation might occur means that those actions that
could cause it to occur must be guarded against (or prepared for).
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Cont’d
♥ Those actions are called attacks. Those who execute such actions, or
cause them to be executed, are called attackers.
♥ There are various ways of identifying threats. You can categorize
threats by their impact on assets and agents
♥ For example, Microsoft’s STRIDE threat model for software security
lists the following categories:
✓ Spoofing identities – an agent pretends to be somebody else; this can
be done to avoid responsibility or to misuse authority given to someone
else.
✓ Tampering with data – violates the integrity of an asset; e.g. security
3/2/2018
settings are changed to give the attacker more privileges.
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Cont’d
✓ Repudiation – an agent denies having performed an action to escape
responsibility.

✓ Information disclosure – violates the confidentiality of an asset;

information disclosed to the wrong parties may lose its value (e.g. trade
secrets); your organization may face penalties if it does not properly
protect information (e.g. personal information about individuals).

✓ Denial of service – violates the availability of an asset; denial-of-service

attacks can make websites temporarily unavailable; the media have
reported that such attacks have been used for blackmail.

✓ Elevation of privilege – an agent gains more privileges3/2/2018

beyond its
entitlement.
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Cont’d

♥ If someone steals your computer, scrambles data on your disk, or

looks at your private data files, the value of your computer has
been diminished or your computer use has been harmed.

♥ These characteristics are both basic security properties and the

objects of security threats. We can define these three properties as
follows.

♥ Confidentiality: is the prevention of unauthorised disclosure of

information. The ability of a system to ensure that an asset is
viewed only by authorized parties. 3/2/2018
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Cont’d
♥ Integrity: is the prevention of unauthorised writing or modification of
information. The ability of a system to ensure that an asset is modified
only by authorized parties
♥ Availability: is the prevention of unauthorised with-holding of
information. The ability of a system to ensure that an asset can be used
by any authorized parties.
♥ ISO 7498-2 [ISO89] adds to them two more properties that are
desirable, particularly in communication networks:
♥ Authentication: the ability of a system to confirm the identity of a
sender.
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♥ Nonrepudiation or accountability: the ability of a system to confirm
that a sender cannot convincingly deny having sent something.
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Cont’d

♥ The C-I-A triad can be viewed from a different perspective: the

nature of the harm caused to assets.

♥ Shirey [823] divides threats into four broad classes:

♥ disclosure, or unauthorized access to information;

♥ deception, or acceptance of false data;

♥ disruption, or interruption or prevention of correct operation;

♥ usurpation, or unauthorized control of some part of a system.

These four broad classes encompass many common threats.
3/2/2018
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1.2.2 Vulnerability
♥ Vulnerability is a weakness of an asset (resource) or a group of
assets that can be exploited by one or more threats

♥ A vulnerability is a weakness in the system, for example, in procedures,

design, or implementation, that might be exploited to cause loss or harm.

♥ For instance, a particular system may be vulnerable to unauthorized data

manipulation because the system does not verify a user’s identity before
allowing data access. In an IT system, typical vulnerabilities are:

• programs with unnecessary privileges;

• programs with known flaws;

• weak access control settings on resources, e.g. having kernel memory

3/2/2018 world-

writable and weak firewall configurations that allow access to vulnerable services.
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1.2.3 Controls
♥ A control or countermeasure is a means to counter threats. Harm occurs
when a threat is realized against a vulnerability.
♥ To protect against harm, then, we can neutralize the threat, close the
vulnerability, or both. The possibility for harm to occur is called risk. We
can deal with harm in several ways:
✓ prevent it, by blocking the attack or closing the vulnerability
✓ deter it, by making the attack harder but not impossible
✓ deflect it, by making another target more attractive (or this one less so)
✓ mitigate it, by making its impact less severe
✓ detect it, either as it happens or some time after the fact 3/2/2018

✓ recover from its effects

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Cont’d
♥ We can group controls into three largely independent classes. The
following list shows the classes and several examples of each type of
control.
♥ Physical controls stop or block an attack by using something tangible
too, such as walls and fences
– locks
– (human) guards
– sprinklers and other fire extinguishers
♥ Procedural or administrative controls use a command or agreement that
– requires or advises people how to act; for example,
– laws, regulations
– policies, procedures, guidelines 3/2/2018

– copyrights, patents
– contracts, agreements
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Cont’d

♥ Technical controls counter threats with technology (hardware

or software), including

– passwords

– program or operating system access controls

– network protocols

– firewalls, intrusion detection systems

– encryption

– network traffic flow regulators

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Cont’d
♥ Risk---potential for loss, damage, or destruction of an asset as a
result of a threat exploiting a vulnerability

Risk = Assets × Threats × Vulnerabilities

♥ Example: In a system that allows weak passwords,

– Vulnerability---password is vulnerable for dictionary or exhaustive

key attacks

Threat---An intruder can exploit the password weakness to break into

the system

Risk---the resources within the system are prone for illegal

3/2/2018
access/modify/damage by the intruder.
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1.3 Goals of computer security

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♥ Confidentiality: The definition of confidentiality is

straightforward: Only authorized people or systems can access
protected data.

♥ Confidentiality is the prevention of unauthorised disclosure of

information. In other words, confidentiality means keeping
information private or safe.

♥ The principle of confidentiality specifies that only the sender and

the intended recipient should be able to access the content of the
message. 3/2/2018
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♥ Here are some properties that could mean a failure of data

confidentiality:

✓ An unauthorized person accesses a data item.

✓ An unauthorized process or program accesses a data item.

✓ A person authorized to access certain data accesses other data

not authorized.

✓ An unauthorized person accesses an approximate data value.

✓ An unauthorized person learns the existence of a piece of data.

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Tools for Confidentiality

♥ Encryption: the transformation of information using a secret,
called an encryption key, so that the transformed information can
only be read using another secret, called the decryption key
(which may, in some cases, be the same as the encryption key).

♥ Access control: rules and policies that limit access to confidential

information to those people and/or systems with a “need to
know.”
✓ This need to know may be determined by identity, such as a
person’s name or a computer’s serial number, or by a role that
a person has, such as being a manager or a computer security
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specialist.
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➢ Authorization: the determination if a person or system is allowed

access to resources, based on an access control policy.
✓ Such authorizations should prevent an attacker from tricking the
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system into letting him have access to protected resources.

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➢ Authentication: the determination of the identity or role that

someone has. This determination can be done in a number of
different ways, but it is usually based on combination of:
✓ something the person has (like a smart card or a radio key fob
storing secret keys),
✓ something the person knows
(like a password),
✓ something the person is
(like a human with a fingerprint).
Physical security: the establishment of physical barriers to limit
3/2/2018

access to protected computational resources.

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♥ Integrity: is the prevention of unauthorised writing or modification of

information. Data integrity means that the data
stored on the computer is the same as what is intended.

♥ The confidential information sent by source to destination which is

accessed by other parties without the permission or knowledge of
sender and receiver.

♥ For example, if we say that we have preserved the integrity of an item,

we may mean that the item is

♥ Precise, accurate, unmodified, modified only in acceptable ways,

modified only by authorized people and modified only by 3/2/2018
authorized
processes.
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Tools for integrity

♥ Checksums: the computation of a function that maps the

contents of a file to a numerical value. A checksum function
depends on the entire contents of a file and is designed in a
way that even a small change to the input file (such as flipping
a single bit) is highly likely to result in a different output
value.
♥ Data correcting codes: methods for storing data in such a
way that small changes can be easily detected and
automatically corrected.
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♥ Backups: the periodic archiving of data.
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♥ Availability: is the prevention of unauthorised with-holding of

information. Information should be accessible and usable upon
appropriate demand by an authorised user.

♥ It means that assets are accessible to authorized parties at

appropriate times. For example, an object or service is thought to
be available if the following are true:

• It is present in a usable form.

• It has enough capacity to meet the service’s needs.

3/2/2018
• The service is completed in an acceptable period of time.
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• Tools:

✓ Physical protections: infrastructure meant to keep information

available even in the event of physical challenges.

✓ Computational redundancies: computers and storage devices

that serve as fallbacks in the case of failures.

Computer security seeks to prevent unauthorized viewing

(confidentiality) or modification (integrity) of data while
3/2/2018
preserving access (availability).
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1.4 Security attack

♥ A threat materializes when an attack succeeds. An attack is a
sequence of steps.
♥ It may start innocuously, gathering information needed to move
on to gain privileges on one machine, from there jump to another
machine, until the final target is reached.
♥ To get a fuller picture of its potential impact, a forest of attack
trees can be constructed.
♥ The root of an attack tree is a threat. The nodes in the tree are sub-
goals that must be achieved for the attack to succeed. Sub-goals
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can be broken into further sub-goals.

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Cont’d
♥ Harm can also be characterized by four acts: interception, interruption,
modification, and fabrication. There are a number of ways in which an
attacker can disrupt communications.
♥ Normally, information goes from the source to the destination.

source destination
♥ Communication is interrupted if the attacker does not allow the
information to reach the destination.
source destination
attacker
♥ Denial-of-service: the interruption or degradation of a data service or
information access.
✓ Example: email spam, to the degree that it is meant to simply
3/2/2018 fill

up a mail queue and slow down an email server.

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Cont’d

♥ Communication is intercepted if the attacker interrupts the

communication and receives the source information.

source destination
attacker
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Cont’d
Eavesdropping: the interception of information intended for someone else
during its transmission over a communication channel.

♥ Modification occurs when the attacker intercepts the communication,

alters it in some way, and then sends it on to the destination. The
attacker intends to deceive the destination into thinking that the
modified communication has come directly from the source. This is
also known as a Man-in-the-middle attack.
source destination 3/2/2018

attacker
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Cont’d
 Alteration: unauthorized modification of information.

✓ Example: the man-in-the-middle attack, where a network

stream is intercepted, modified, and retransmitted.

3/2/2018
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Cont’d

♥ An attacker may also make up a communication and send it to

the destination pretending that it has come from the source.
This is called fabrication.

source destination

attacker

♥ Masquerading: the fabrication of information that is

purported to be from someone who is not actually the author.
3/2/2018
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1.5 Security policies and mechanisms

♥ A security policy is a statement of what is, and what is not,

allowed.

♥ A security mechanism is a method, tool, or procedure for

enforcing a security policy.

♥ Mechanisms can be nontechnical, such as requiring proof of

identity before changing a password; in fact, policies often
require some procedural mechanisms that technology cannot
enforce.
3/2/2018
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1.6 Prevention, detection, and deterrence

♥ Given a security policy’s specification of “secure” and

“nonsecure” actions, these security mechanisms can prevent
the attack, detect the attack, or recover from the attack.

♥ Prevention means that an attack will fail. Typically,

prevention involves implementation of mechanisms that users
cannot override and that are trusted to be implemented in a
correct, unalterable way, so that the attacker cannot defeat the
mechanism by changing it.
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Cont’d
♥ Detection is most useful when an attack cannot be prevented,
but it can also indicate the effectiveness of preventative
measures.

♥ Detection mechanisms accept that an attack will occur; the goal

is to determine that an attack is under way, or has occurred, and
report it.

♥ The resource protected by the detection mechanism is

continuously or periodically monitored for security problems.
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Cont’d
♥ Recovery has two forms. The first is to stop an attack and to
assess and repair any damage caused by that attack.

♥ One recovery mechanism would be to restore the file from

backup tapes. so recovery involves identification and fixing of
the vulnerabilities used by the attacker to enter the system. By
definition, recovery requires resumption of correct operation.

♥ In a second form of recovery, the system continues to function

correctly while an attack is under way.
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1.7 Software security assurance

♥ An entity is trustworthy if there is sufficient credible evidence

leading one to believe that the system will meet a set of given
requirements.
♥ Trust is a measure of trustworthiness, relying on the evidence
provided.
♥ Security assurance, or simply assurance, is confidence that an
entity meets its security requirements, based on specific evidence
provided by the application of assurance techniques.

♥ Assurance techniques include the use of a development

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methodology, formal methods for design, analysis, and testing.

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Cont’d
♥ Security assurance is acquired by applying a variety of assurance
techniques that provide justification and evidence that the mechanism,
as implemented and operated,

♥ meets the security requirements described in the security policy for the
mechanism (or collection of mechanisms).

♥ Information assurance, refers to the ability to access information and

preserve the quality and security of that information.

♥ It differs from security assurance, because the focus is on the threats to

information and the mechanisms used to protect information and not
on the correctness, consistency, or completeness of the requirements
3/2/2018

and implementation of those mechanisms.

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Cont’d
♥ Assurance refers to how trust is provided and managed in computer systems.
♥ Trust management depends on:
✓ Policies, which specify behavioral expectations that people or systems have
for themselves and others.
For example, the designers of an online music system may specify policies
that describe how users can access and copy songs.
✓ Permissions, which describe the behaviors that are allowed by the agents that
interact with a person or system.
For instance, an online music store may provide permissions for limited
access and copying to people who have purchased certain songs.
✓ Protections, which describe mechanisms put in place to enforce permissions
and polices. 3/2/2018

• We could imagine that an online music store would build in

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