Computer Security; Principles and Practice (4th Edition)

Specifications

Book Description

“Computer Security: Principles and Practice,” authored by William Stallings and Lawrie Brown in its 4th edition, offers a comprehensive overview of the principles, technologies, and practices essential for understanding and implementing computer security. Here's what you can expect from this book:

1. Introduction to Computer Security: The book starts with an introduction to the fundamental concepts of computer security, including threats, vulnerabilities, attacks, and defenses. It covers the importance of security in the digital age and the challenges posed by cyber threats.
2. Cryptography: Stallings and Brown delve into the principles of cryptography, including encryption, decryption, key management, and cryptographic algorithms. They cover symmetric and asymmetric encryption techniques, hash functions, digital signatures, and cryptographic protocols.
3. User Authentication: The textbook discusses user authentication mechanisms used to verify the identity of users accessing computer systems and networks. It covers passwords, biometrics, token-based authentication, multi-factor authentication, and authentication protocols.
4. Access Control: Stallings and Brown explore access control mechanisms for regulating access to resources and services in computer systems. They discuss access control models, access control lists (ACLs), capabilities, role-based access control (RBAC), and access control policies.
5. Security Models and Evaluation: The book covers security models and evaluation criteria used to assess the effectiveness of security mechanisms. It discusses security policies, security models (e.g., Bell-LaPadula, Biba, and Clark-Wilson), and security evaluation criteria (e.g., Common Criteria).
6. Operating System Security: Stallings and Brown examine security features and mechanisms implemented in modern operating systems to protect against various security threats. They cover topics such as access control, process isolation, privilege separation, secure boot, and trusted computing bases.
7. Network Security: The textbook discusses network security principles, protocols, and technologies used to secure communication over computer networks. It covers topics such as secure sockets layer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), virtual private networks (VPNs), firewalls, intrusion detection systems (IDS), and intrusion prevention systems (IPS).
8. Web Security: Stallings and Brown explore security issues and challenges associated with web-based applications and services. They discuss web vulnerabilities, web security architecture, secure coding practices, web authentication, authorization, and session management.
9. Security Management: The book covers security management principles and practices for managing security risks and ensuring compliance with security policies and regulations. It discusses risk assessment, security planning, incident response, disaster recovery, and security governance.
10. Emerging Trends and Technologies: Stallings and Brown explore emerging trends and technologies in computer security, such as cloud security, mobile security, internet of things (IoT) security, and artificial intelligence (AI) for security analytics. They discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by these trends.

“Computer Security: Principles and Practice” serves as an essential resource for students, practitioners, and professionals seeking to develop a comprehensive understanding of computer security concepts, technologies, and practices. With its clear explanations, real-world examples, and practical insights, the book equips readers with the knowledge and skills needed to address the evolving challenges of cybersecurity.