Securing Computer Systems: Objectives

Securing Computer Systems
Objectives
In this lesson, you will learn to:
Identify the need for security
Identify categories of security threats
Describe the methods used by malicious users to break
into systems
Identify the goals of a secure computer system
Identify and classify the resources that need to be secured
Identify the steps to formulate a security policy
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Security/Lesson 1/Slide 1 of 32

An Introduction to Security
Security ensures that the different resources of an
organization, such as hard disks, CPUs, applications, files,
the data stored in databases, and the data in transit, are
not accessed by an unauthorized user over the network.
With the introduction of networks and the Internet, there
has been an enormous increase in the number of
computer users.
Today, most organizations rely on computerized systems
for storing data and coordinating business activities.
A number of individual users use computers to avail
different services, such as online shopping, online banking,
and messaging.
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An Introduction to Security (Contd.)
Most of the computers that are connected to networks are
vulnerable to attacks by viruses, worms, or unauthorized
users.
Individual users also face security threats, such as theft
and misuse of data and virus attacks.
Following are the threats to other resources of the
organization:
Individual computers of the organization
B2B server accessed by the partners
Application server accessed by the internal and external
users
Data transmitted over the network
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An Introduction to Security (Contd.)
Computer System of an Organization Accessed by Multiple Users

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Categories of Security Threats
Security threats can be broadly categorized into:
Human threats
Threats caused by natural calamities
S e c u r ity T h r e a ts
H u m a n T h r e a ts
I n t e n t io n a l
In te rn a l U s e rs
( D is g r u n t le d E m p lo y e e s )
N a t u r a l C a la m it ie s
( F lo o d , E a r t h q u a k e , F ir e )
N o n - in t e n t io n a l
( I g n o r a n t E m p lo y e e s )
E x te rn a l U s e rs
(H a c k e rs )
Categories of Security Threats

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Categories of Security Threats (Contd.)
Human threats
Include threats from the users of a computer system.
Can be further categorized into:
Intentional
Non-intentional
threats
Natural calamities
Include damage caused to computer systems due to
floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and fire.
May result in loss of information, downtime, or damage
to hardware.
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Methods Used by Malicious Users to Break into
Systems
Malicious users use the following methods to break into
computer systems:
Viruses
Worms
Trojan horses
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
Packet sniffing
Social engineering
Password cracking
E-mail hacking
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Secure Computer System
A secure computer system must accomplish the following
goals:
Authentication
Authorization
Availability of applications and information
Data confidentiality
Consistency
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Secure Computer System (Contd.)
Authentication
A secure computer system must ensure that only
authentic users can access a server or an application.
Authentication is the process of confirming the identity
of a user.
The most common methods are the use of user name
and password pairs and smart cards.
Some biometric methods are also used to implement
authentication.
These methods include retina scanning, voice
recognition, and fingerprints.
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Authorization
Authorization enables you to restrict the access of an
authenticated user to servers, services, data, and other
IT resources.
It is accomplished by specifying rights and permissions
for users.
It ensures that only authorized users have access to the
sensitive information stored on a computer system.
It prevents unauthorized users from damaging the IT
assets of an organization.
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Availability
Large enterprise applications and Internet applications
are accessed by thousands of users.
Such applications require high availability and optimum
performance.
A secure system must ensure that the data requested
by these users is available when requested by an
authorized user.
Securing such applications also involves protecting
them against degraded performance.
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Confidentiality
Confidentiality refers to ensuring the privacy of the data
stored on a server or data in transit to prevent
unauthorized users from intercepting and stealing it.
It can be implemented by encrypting data in such a way
that it cannot be understood by unauthorized users.
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Consistency
A secure system must prevent authorized users from
making erroneous updates to data.
It must also make sure that malicious attackers are not
allowed to modify or corrupt the information that is
essential to carry out business activities in an
organization.
A secure system must also ensure consistency of
applications.
A consistent application performs the functions expected
by its users.
A radical change in the behavior of an application may
indicate a corruption in the application code, which may
result in incorrect or corrupt data.
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Security Policies
It includes approaches and techniques that an organization
is going to apply or include in order to secure its resources.
Following are some rules that are generally included in a
security policy:
Log off the system before leaving the workstation.
Do not share a password with other users.
Never install software brought from home on a machine
at the workplace.
Never use a floppy disk without a virus check.
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Security Policies (Contd.)
Some measures to be taken to ensure the physical security
of a computer system are:
Backups
Off-site backups
Locking resources
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Security Model
A security model explains the security policy in terms of the
following two components:
Security object
Security subject
A Security Model
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Security Model (Contd.)
Security object
Is a passive entity.
Receives or contains information.
Examples include, IT resources such as a printer, a
memory segment, files, and services.
Security subject
Is an active entity often in the form of a user or a
process operating on behalf of a user.
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Formulating a Security Strategy
Formulating a security strategy involves the following
tasks:
Analyzing the current security policies
Identifying the IT resources that need to be secured
Classifying data for security purposes
Identifying the security threats and the likely attack
methods
Defining the proactive and reactive security strategies
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Formulating a Security Strategy (Contd.)
Analyzing the current security policies
The security administrators must analyze the
vulnerabilities and the current security policies used to
protect the computer systems of an organization.
A security administrator may study the existing
documents containing details of the physical security
policies, the network security policies, the data security
policies, the disaster recovery plans, and the
contingency plans.
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A security administrator must identify the IT resources
of an organization.
The IT resources of an organization include:
Physical
resources: Include computers, laptops,

books, manuals, backups and archives,
communication equipment, network cables, and
commercial software distribution media (such as
CDs).
Information
resources: Include passwords, data and
application.
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The components of a computer system can be
categorized into the following security entities:
End
system entity
Local
communication system entity
Private
The
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network entity
Internet entity

Classifying data for security purposes
The data of an organization can be classified for
security purposes based on the sensitivity and the
integrity of data.
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Sensitivity classification
This
level of classification has the following four

categories:
Public/non-classified
Internal
information
Confidential
Secret
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information
information
information

Integrity classification
Data
is classified based on the integrity levels and is

divided into following three categories:
High
Integrity
Medium
Low
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Integrity
Integrity

Identifying the security threats and likely attack methods
After identifying the IT assets and classifying them, a
security administrator must identify the various security
threats to the assets.
This involves identifying the different ways in which an
asset can be stolen, misused, or damaged.
Security administrators must update their knowledge
about the different methods on a continuous basis
because hackers keep devising new methods of
attacking computer systems.
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A proactive strategy
Is
a pre-attack security strategy.
Involves
identifying the possible damage from each

type of attack, determining the vulnerabilities that an
attack can exploit, minimizing those vulnerabilities,
and making contingency plans.
A reactive strategy
Is
implemented on the failure of the proactive

security strategy.
Defines
place.
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the steps to be taken after an attack takes


Aims
at identifying the cause of the attack, the

vulnerabilities used to attack a computer system, and
the damage caused by the attack.
Also
involves implementing the contingency plan and

repairing the damage caused by the attack.
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Just a Minute
1. List some common methods used by hackers to break into
a computer system.
2. What is a DoS attack?
3. List the tasks for defining a security strategy.
4. Discuss the proactive and reactive security strategies.
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Summary
In this lesson, you learned that:
Security refers to protecting the resources such as
applications, files, and data in transit against different types
of attacks.
Computer systems must be protected against corruption
and unauthorized access, regardless of whether they are
used by corporate users or home users.
Security threats can be broadly categorized into human
threats and threats caused by natural calamities.
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Summary (Contd.)
Malicious users use a number of methods to break into
computer systems. Some of the most popular methods are:
Viruses
Worms
Trojan horses
Denial of Service (DoS) attacks
Packet sniffing
Social engineering
Password cracking
E-mail hacking
NIIT

Summary (Contd.)
A secure computer system must accomplish the following
goals:
Authentication
Authorization
Availability
Confidentiality
Consistency
A security policy includes approaches and techniques that
an organization is going to apply or include in order to
secure its resources.
NIIT

Summary (Contd.)
A security model explains the security policy in terms of
security objects and subjects.
Defining a security strategy involves performing the
following tasks:
Analyzing the Current Security Policies
Identifying the security threats and the likely attack
method
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Securing Computer Systems: Objectives

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