Category: Books

  • Designing Secure Systems

    Designing Secure Systems

    Modern systems are an intertwined mesh of human process, physical security, and technology. Attackers are aware of this, commonly leveraging a weakness in one form of security to gain control over an otherwise protected operation. To expose these weaknesses, we need a single unified model that can be used to describe all aspects of the system on equal terms.

    Designing Secure Systems takes a theory-based approach to concepts underlying all forms of systems – from padlocks, to phishing, to enterprise software architecture. We discuss how weakness in one part of a system creates vulnerability in another, all the while applying standards and frameworks used in the cybersecurity world. Our goal: to analyze the security of the entire system – including people, processes, and technology – using a single model.

    We begin by describing the core concepts of access, authorization, authentication, and exploitation. We then break authorization down into five interrelated components and describe how these aspects apply to physical, human process, and cybersecurity. Lastly, we discuss how to operate a secure system based on the NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) concepts of “identify, protect, detect, respond, and recover.”

    Pick up your copy of Designing Secure Systems today: https://www.routledge.com/Designing-Secure-Systems/Melone/p/book/9780367700010

  • Think Like a Hacker: A Sysadmin’s Guide to Cybersecurity

    Think Like a Hacker: A Sysadmin’s Guide to Cybersecurity

    Targeted attack and determined human adversaries (DHA) have changed the information security game forever. Writing secure code is as important as ever; however, this satisfies only one piece of the puzzle. Effective defense against targeted attack requires IT professionals to understand how attackers use – and abuse – enterprise design to their advantage.

    Learn how advanced attackers break into networks. Understand how attackers use concepts of access and authorization to jump from one computer to the next. Dive into how and why attackers use custom implants and backdoors inside an enterprise. Be introduced to the concept of service-centric design – and how it can help improve both security and usability.

    To defend against hackers you must first learn to think like a hacker.

    For a peek at the book’s prologue, see the following post: Preview – Think Like a Hacker

    For those who purchased the audio book, the illustrations are available here: Think Like a Hacker audio book supplement