CS 465 Introduction to Computer Security

Homework Assignment #3

Assigned: Thursday, November 19, 2009

Due: Tuesday, December 1, 2009 at the beginning of the class, hard copy
No assignments will be accepted after 9:30 am on Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Name
Student ID

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Total
/15 /15 /10 /15 /10 /35 /10 Extra credit /100

1. Alice can read and write to file A, can read the file B, and can execute the file C. Bob can read A,
can read and write to B, and cannot access C.

a. Write a set of Access Control Lists (ACL) for this situation. With what is each list
associated?
b. Write a set of capability lists for this situation. With what is each list associated?
c. Explain why Access Control Lists are used much more often for access control in
operating systems than Capabilities.
(15 points)

2. Debra, Raymond, Marie, and Frank belong to the same group of users. Debra is an owner of the
file Kids and she wants to allow the whole group except Marie to read the file Kids and only
Raymond to write into the file Kids. Explain how and under what conditions Debra can
accomplish this in
a. Standard UNIX
b. Windows XP.
(15 points)

3. How does the "Secure Desktop" feature in Windows Vista help with security? (10 points)

4. Consider a system which combines the Military security policy and Bell-La Padula
confidentiality model. Given the security levels TOP SECRET, SECRET, CONFIDENTIAL,
and UNCLASSIFIED (ordered from highest to lowest), and compartments Students, Faculty,
and Staff, specify what type of access (read, write, both, none) is allowed in each of the
following situations. (15 points)

a. Paul, cleared for (TOP SECRET, {Faculty, Staff, Students}), wants to access a
document classified as (TOP SECRET, {Faculty, Staff}).

b. Anna, cleared for (CONFIDENTIAL, {Faculty, Students}), wants to access a

document classified as (CONFIDENTIAL, {Staff})

CS 465 Homework 3 Page 1 of 4

 c. Jesse, cleared for (SECRET, {Faculty, Students}), wants to access document
classified as (CONFIDENTIAL, {Students}).

d. Sam, cleared for (CONFIDENTIAL, {Faculty, Staff}), wants to access a document

classified as (SECRET, {Staff}).

e. Robin cleared for (CONFIDENTIAL, {Staff}) wants to access a document classified

as (UNCLASSIFIED, {Staff}).

5. The conflict class “Airlines” contains the following company groups: Delta, United Airlines,
American Airlines, and US Airways. The second conflict class “Hotels” contains the company
groups: Holiday Inn, Inter Continental, Best Western, and Double Tree. For each of the
following scenarios determine whether the user would be allowed access under the Chinese Wall
security policy. Justify your answers.
d. Tom has had access to Delta company group. Tom wants to get access to United Airlines
company group.
e. Bob has had access to Delta company group. Bob wants to get access to Holiday Inn
company group.
f. Jim wants to get access to Delta and United Airlines company groups.
g. John wants to get access to Delta and Inter Continental company groups.
h. Ann wants to get access to Double Tree company group.
(10 points)

6. One problem with database security is inference with the outside knowledge pertaining to the
records in the database. Consider the following scenario. Jack was outside, watering his lawn,
when he saw an ambulance pull up to his neighbor’s house. Jack, being the nosy person that he
is, decides to query the local hospital database (freely available for statistical analysis) and see
what he can find out. The results of his query are given in Table 1.

Table 1
Gender Date of Birth Zip Code Illness
M */*/1976 26554 Reflex
Sympathetic
Dystrophy
M */*/1952 26554 Cancer
F */*/1966 26554 Cystic Fibrosis
M */*/1975 26505 Skin Lesions
F */*/1973 26554 Cancer
F */*/1962 26505 Osteoporosis
F */*/1951 26505 Arthritis
M */*/1949 26554 Heart Disease
F */*/1976 26505 Ingrown
Toenail

CS 465 Homework 3 Page 2 of 4

Jack also has the following outside knowledge.

• His neighbor is a male who lives in Fairmont WV (because he lives beside him).
• Jack's neighbor mentioned watching the last episode of “I Love Lucy” (the actual broadcast, not
rerun).
• Jack's neighbor is Asian. Jack knows from watching the Discovery Channel that Asians have a
reduced risk of heart disease.

Based on the results of the query and the outside knowledge, what is the most likely illness of Jack's
neighbor? Explain your reasoning. (10 points)

Another important risk to database security is the fact that combinations of non-sensitive data,
gathered from the same or multiple databases, can be used to infer even more sensitive information.
Consider the continuation of the previous scenario. Jack also decides to run some queries on the local
voter registration database. The results of his queries are given in Tables 2 and 3.

Table 2
Zip Code Age Bracket Gender Number of Average
Registered Income of
Voters Voters
26505 18-35 F 2 25,000
26505 35-55 F 4 41,000
26505 55+ F 1 30,000
26505 18-35 M 1 45,000
26505 35-55 M 3 55,000
26505 55+ M 7 30,000

Table 3
Name Address Political Date of Birth
Affiliation
William Smith 123 Willey St. Republican 3/14/1967
Morgantown, WV
John Robinson 456 Grant Ave. Democrat 5/5/1975
Morgantown, WV
Kelsey Riddle 111 Overhill St. Republican 7/13/1966
Fairmont, WV
Amanda Jones 222 Grove St. Democrat 9/6/1981
Morgantown, WV
Sarah Ball 333 Dudly St. Independent 4/18/1951
Morgantown, WV

Cross-reference the three query results given in Tables 1, 2, and 3 and infer as much information as
possible about the 5 people listed in Table 3 (e.g., income, political affiliation, age, illness, etc). (15
points)

CS 465 Homework 3 Page 3 of 4

What control(s) should be used to prevent revealing the sensitive data from Tables 1,2 and 3. Provide
specific answers and give new tables. (10 points)

7. Describe how Auditing and Analyzing Access Control works in Windows XP. List and
describe at least five categories of events that can be audited in Windows XP. (10 points
extra credit)

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