Description
The second edition of this book came out barely 2 years ago and we are again in need of a new and improved third edition. This rapid turnaround of editions of a successful book like this is indicative of the rapidly changing technology landscape. To keep a promise we made to our readers in the fi rst edition of keeping the book materials as up to date as possible, we have now embarked on this third edition. First, recall that in the second edition, we introduced to the reader the concept of a changing traditional Computer Network as we knew it when the fi rst edition of this book came out. That network with a nicely “demarcated” and heavily defended perimeter wall and well guarded access points has been going into a transformation as a result of new technologies. Changes have occurred, as we pointed out in the second edition, within and outside the network we call the “traditional computer network”, at the server and most importantly at the boundaries. A virtualized and elastic network with rapid extensions at will is taking its place to meet the growing needs of users. The new technologies driving this change, for now, are system resource virtualization, the evolving cloud computing models and a growing and unpredictable mobile computing technology creating platforms that demand new extensions, on the fl y and at will, to the traditional computer network. Secondly, the rapidly merging computing and telecommunication technologies, we started discussing in the fi rst and through the second editions, are rapidly destroying the traditional computer network as mobile and home devices are slowly becoming part of the enterprise and at the same time remaining in their traditional public commons, thus creating unpredictable and un-defendable enterprise and home networks. When you think of a small mobile device now able to connect to a private enterprise network under the BYOD policies and the same device is able to be used as a home network device and at the same time remains connected to networks in public commons, you start to get an image of the ” anywhere and everywhere ” computing network, a global sprawl of networks within networks and indeed networks on demand. The ubiquitous nature of these new computing networks is creating new and uncharted territories with security nightmares. What is more worrying is that along with the sprawl, we are getting all types of characters joining amass in the new but rapidly changing technological “ecosystem”, for lack of a better word.
For these reasons, we need to remain vigilant with better, if not advanced, computer and information security protocols and best practices because the frequency of computing and mobile systems attacks and the vulnerability of these systems will likely not decline, rather they are likely to increase. More efforts in developing adaptive and scalable security protocols and best practices and massive awareness, therefore, are needed to meet this growing challenge and bring the public to a level where they can be active and safe participants in the brave new worlds of computing.
This guide is a comprehensive volume touching not only on every major topic in computing and information security and assurance, but also has gone beyond the security of computer networks as we used to know them, to embrace new and more agile mobile systems and new online social networks that are interweaving into our everyday fabric, if not already. We bring into our ongoing discussion on computer Network security, a broader view of the new wireless and mobile systems and online social networks. As with previous editions, it is intended to bring massive security awareness and education to the security realities of our time, a time when billions of people from the remotest place on earth to the most cosmopolitan world cities are using the smartest, smallest, and more powerful mobile devices loaded with the most fascinating and worrisome functionalities ever known to interconnect via a mesh of elastic computing networks. We highlight security issues and concerns in these public commons and private bedrooms the globe over.