Security Basics mailing list archives
Survivability
From: "Craig Wright" <Craig.Wright () bdo com au>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:31:08 +1000
There seems to be some miscomprehension to the term survivability. This is an areas that encompasses more than security alone and covers dependability, fault-tolerance, safety engineering,high assurance, performability, availability, and reliability. Survivability research is not new, it has been about for nearly a decade in information security circles. In fact, hazard and survival research have been a mainstay in insurance and acturial endeavours for years. "Survivability is the sum of the parts, not some of the parts. Current security approaches to protect information systems have focused on reventing attacks from being successful by hardening defenses with authentication, encryption, and a variety of layer-violating network devices (i.e., firewalls, network address translators, intrusion detection systems). What is not being captured is the survivability of an entire system as a whole unit to failures or attack. While security approaches may protect one layer of a networked system they often introduce single-point-of-failure vulnerabilities in other layers." [1] The Survivability-Over-Security (SOS) group includes CERT, a few Universities and others. It is a research area funded by DARPA, NASA, SAE and others. Some sites: http://www.sosresearch.org Http://www.cert.org/research/isw/isw2000/papers/40.pdf I am a little biased these days as I no longer act as a sys admin for discrete systems. Being that I have to look from the overall prespective, the security of a particular device has little imact other than as a variable into the security of the system - the security of the system being the key. Regards, Craig [1] "A Survivability-Over-Security (SOS) Approach to Holistic Cyber-Ecosystem Assurance" 2002 by William Yurcik and David Doss Craig Wright Manager of Information Systems Direct +61 2 9286 5497 Craig.Wright () bdo com au BDO Kendalls (NSW) Level 19, 2 Market Street Sydney NSW 2000 GPO Box 2551 Sydney NSW 2001 Fax +61 2 9993 9497 www.bdo.com.au Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation in respect of matters arising within those States and Territories of Australia where such legislation exists. The information in this email and any attachments is confidential. If you are not the named addressee you must not read, print, copy, distribute, or use in any way this transmission or any information it contains. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by return email, destroy all copies and delete it from your system. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and not necessarily endorsed by BDO Kendalls. You may not rely on this message as advice unless subsequently confirmed by fax or letter signed by a Partner or Director of BDO Kendalls. It is your responsibility to scan this communication and any files attached for computer viruses and other defects. BDO Kendalls does not accept liability for any loss or damage however caused which may result from this communication or any files attached. A full version of the BDO Kendalls disclaimer, and our Privacy statement, can be found on the BDO Kendalls website at http://www.bdo.com.au or by emailing administrator () bdo com au. BDO Kendalls is a national association of separate partnerships and entities.
Current thread:
- Survivability Craig Wright (Apr 19)