Computer Security and Incident Response: A Case Study - NASIRC
Loading...
Authors
Atkins, Jason
Issue Date
1998
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
From the perspective of a college student on the brink of the 21st century, it is difficult
to imagine what life would have been like at the beginning of the 1900s. Cars and phones
were just beginning to take their places in society, television was still a distant dream, and the
computer was decades from becoming a reality. Business was conducted in person and deals
were completed with a handshake. As technology has improved, its role in both business and
society as a whole has grown tremendously. No example of this is more apparent than that
of the computer. The past fifty years have seen the role of the computer go from a research
curiosity to a hobbyist's toy to a valuable business tool to, today, a heavily relied on method
of doing business. Businesspeople can communicate with colleagues around the world with
a few clicks of a button, companies store a wealth of information on computerized databases,
and consumers can find virtually anything they want on the Internet.
With this increased dependence on the computer and its abilities has come a new set
of dangers, including the emergence of those who wish to use this technology for illegal
purposes. History has seen its share of villains and criminals, many of whom have been
glorified in movies and on television. These 'bad guys' come in, guns blazing, wreaking
havoc everywhere they go. In the end though, the hero always gets his man, rides off into the
sunset and lives happily ever after. Today's computer criminals, though, do not fit this
stereotype - they can wreak their havoc anywhere in the world from the comfort of their desk
chairs. This anonymity can make locating and prosecuting the perpetrators of these crimes
a daunting task indeed. These so-called hackers (also known as crackers) present a new
challenge to organizations wishing to keep their business private and secure.
Along with my colleagues at NASA's Automated Systems Incident Response
Capability (NASIRC), I took this challenge in an endeavor to protect NASA's valuable
computing and information resources. While our efforts were met with a mixture of success
and failure, the problem of keeping computers and information safe is not going to go away.
In this paper, I will discuss some of the issues facing computer security today, how to deal
with them, and then take a look at what one high-profile organization, NASA, is doing to
combat this problem.
Description
iii, 80 p.
Citation
Publisher
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written