A Vulnerable System

The History of Information Security in the Computer Age

Andrew J. Stewart

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Hardback

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English

Cornell University Press
15 September 2021

Information technology industries; Computing: general; Computer security

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.

By: Andrew J. Stewart
Imprint: Cornell University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 27mm
Weight: 907g
ISBN: 9781501758942
ISBN 10: 1501758942
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 15 September 2021
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

"Introduction: Three Stigmata 1. A ""New Dimension"" for the Security of Information 2. The Promise, Success, and Failure of the Early Researchers 3. The Creation of the Internet and the Web, and a Dark Portent 4. The Dot-Com Boom and the Genesis of a Lucrative Feedback Loop 5. Software Security and the ""Hamster Wheel of Pain"" 6. Usable Security, Economics, and Psychology 7. Vulnerability Disclosure, Bounties, and Markets 8. Data Breaches, Nation-State Hacking, and Epistemic Closure 9. The Wicked Nature of Information Security Epilogue: The Past, Present, and a Possible Future"

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

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. * Login *