A Vulnerable System: The History of Information Security in the Computer Age

Andrew J. Stewart

Published by Cornell University Press 2021

A Vulnerable System

The History of Information Security in the Computer Age

Andrew J. Stewart

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501759048

Overview
Contents

About this book

As threats to the security of information pervade the fabric of everyday life, A Vulnerable System describes how, even as the demand for information security increases, the needs of society are not being met. The result is that the confidentiality of our personal data, the integrity of our elections, and the stability of foreign relations between countries are increasingly at risk.

Andrew J. Stewart convincingly shows that emergency software patches and new security products cannot provide the solution to threats such as computer hacking, viruses, software vulnerabilities, and electronic spying. Profound underlying structural problems must first be understood, confronted, and then addressed.

A Vulnerable System delivers a long view of the history of information security, beginning with the creation of the first digital computers during the Cold War. From the key institutions of the so-called military industrial complex in the 1950s to Silicon Valley start-ups in the 2020s, the relentless pursuit of new technologies has come at great cost. The absence of knowledge regarding the history of information security has caused the lessons of the past to be forsaken for the novelty of the present, and has led us to be collectively unable to meet the needs of the current day. From the very beginning of the information age, claims of secure systems have been crushed by practical reality.

The myriad risks to technology, Stewart reveals, cannot be addressed without first understanding how we arrived at this moment. A Vulnerable System is an enlightening and sobering history of a topic that affects crucial aspects of our lives.

Author / Editor information

Andrew J. Stewart is an officer at a global investment bank. He received his MSc in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London.

Reviews

Josephine Wolff, author of You'll See This Message When It Is Too Late :

Stewart offers a provocative history of cybersecurity. He deftly reveals how major figures and technological achievements of the past seventy years contributed to our current faulty set of less-than-best practices. A Vulnerable System shows the urgent need to rethink how we approach computer security.

Ben Rothke, author of Computer Security:

An excellent blend of history, business, and technical understanding, A Vulnerable System is a great read for anyone involved in information security. It is a compelling book from start to finish.

Jeff Kosseff, author of The Twenty-Six Words That Created the Internet:

Well written and timely, A Vulnerable System is an authoritative history of information security in the United States. Andrew J. Stewart accurately and clearly describes and synthesizes important lessons about the history of the information security field.

Richard H. Immerman, author of The Hidden Hand:

A Vulnerable System is an engaging, cogent, and frankly frightening book. Andrew J. Stewart raises concerns that will only gain in importance as time goes on as cyber is increasingly weaponized and the vulnerabilities of IT infrastructures emerge as potentially fatal threats to national security.

A Vulnerable System provides an accessible and engaging overview of many major developments in the history of computer security. It should be useful for teaching courses on the history of computer security, as well as for providing historical perspective to information security practitioners and general readers.

The author writes in an easily accessible style, allowing the reader to gain a good overview of computer security at various stages of development, from the mid-20th-century events to the late 2010s, and to delve deeper by following the notes at the back of the book (there are over 70 pages of them!). Most topics are covered this way and this lends a curious reader to complement their scientific knowledge with amusing or eye-opening anecdotes.

Stewart has written an easy-to-read history of computer security. He continues his marvelous story telling, covering human weaknesses, perhaps the most reliable way of gaining access to networks, then to massive data breaches. Altogether, I consider this book very much worth reading.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction: Three Stigmata Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. A “New Dimension” for the Security of Information Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	5
2. The Promise, Success, and Failure of the Early Researchers Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
3. The Creation of the Internet and the Web, and a Dark Portent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	32
4. The Dot-Com Boom and the Genesis of a Lucrative Feedback Loop Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	55
5. Software Security and the “Hamster Wheel of Pain” Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	78
6. Usable Security, Economics, and Psychology Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	100
7. Vulnerability Disclosure, Bounties, and Markets Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
8. Data Breaches, Nation-State Hacking, and Epistemic Closure Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	152
9. The Wicked Nature of Information Security Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	176
Epilogue: The Past, Present, and a Possible Future Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	200
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	205
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Select Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 312
Keywords: infosec; data breaches; cybersecurity; history of hacking; history of security vulnerabilities; information security failures; history of cybersecurity

eBook

Published: September 15, 2021
ISBN: 9781501759048