The Basics of Information Security Second Edition

The Basics of Information Security Second Edition

The Basics of

Information Security

Second Edition

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INTRODUCTION

Information security is a concept that becomes ever more enmeshed in many

aspects of our society, largely as a result of our nearly ubiquitous adoption of

computing technology. In our everyday lives, many of us work with computers

for our employers, play on computers at home, go to school online, buy goods from

merchants on the Internet, take our laptops to the coffee shop and check our e-mail,

carry our smartphones on our hips and use them to check our bank balances, track

our exercise with sensors in our shoes, and so on, ad infinitum.

Although this technology enables us to be more productive and allows us to

access a host of information with only a click of the mouse, it also carries with it a

host of security issues. If the information on the systems used by our employers

or our banks becomes exposed to an attacker, the consequences can be dire indeed.

We could suddenly find ourselves bereft of funds, as the contents of our bank account

are transferred to a bank in another country in the middle of the night. Our company

could lose millions of dollars, face legal prosecution, and suffer damage to its reputation

because of a system configuration issue allowing an attacker to gain access to

a database containing personally identifiable information (PII) or proprietary information.

We see such examples appear in the media with disturbing regularity.

If we look back 30 years, such issues related to computer systems were nearly

nonexistent, largely due to the low level of technology implementation and the few

people who were using what was in place. Although technology changes at an

increasingly rapid rate, and specific implementations arise on a seemingly daily