Chapter 7: Security

Chapter 7: Security

System Security

It is a good thing to trust others, but sometimes it is even better not to trust. The question is when to be wary and when to accept what you receive at face value. Ideally you will not have to make that decision; the system will perform all of the security checking for you. But that leads you to the next question: Can you trust the system?

There are various ways of classifying computers in terms of how much security they provide. The best known and most widely used way is the Trusted Computer Standards Evaluation Criteria (the Orange Book) from the U.S. Department of Defense. They have defined a number of levels of security and certify the levels met by different operating systems.

Table 7-1. Security Levels from the Orange Book

Level

Description

No protection

Logon identification; file and directory permissions

Authorization levels; audit trail

Multilevel security; mandatory access controls

Structured protection ? interaction between objects at different security levels

Security domains enforced by hardware

Verified design ? mathematically verified security architecture

In Table 7-1 you can see a rough overview of the kinds of protection the various DOD security levels enforce. While you will typically not want to use a completely unprotected machine (except maybe at home), you are also unlikely to require anything as ambitious as levels A or even B. That is, unless you are paranoid or have a stock of nuclear weapons you...

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