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Session 2158

A Conceptual Model as an aid to student understanding of Network Security

G. Kohli, S. P. Maj, G. Murphy and D. Veal Edith Cowan University, Perth, WA, Australia g.kohli@ecu.edu.au

Abstract

Security is amongst the most widely discussed topics in today’s world of high speed networking. Security broadly deals with problems that affect millions of computer users around the world either through the spread of viruses, or information theft from personal computers and network servers. Security issues can encompass large quantities of detailed information which can overwhelm network administrators. Security systems are traditionally often layered in a top- down manner. Abstract models could enable administrators to focus upon relevant details whilst filtering out non-essential details. Such models could also be used in a top-down fashion thus permitting the control of complexity via recursive decomposition. There are currently many security models used in industry and for teaching students about network security. These models are not only restricted to confidentiality, authentication, data integrity, non-repudiation, and access control, but also take into account physical and human aspects that can effect security. A model based upon Finite State Machines (FSM) and called a state model is proposed as an aid to device level management.

Introduction

The Internet is the driving force behind the rapid development of Computer and Networking technology. Whilst the Internet offers fast communication and ease of use, there are inherent problems. There has been a growing concern about information theft 1 and virus outbreaks on the Internet 2. Furthermore Cisco notes with regard to corporate networks: “… when you connect your network to the Internet, you are physically connecting your network to more than 50,000 unknown and all their users. Although such connections open the door to many useful applications and provide great opportunities for information sharing, most private networks contain information that should not be shared with outside users on the Internet” 3. This gives the traditional administrator little choice but to protect and monitor the security of their networks. Security is one of the key tasks required of systems administrators. The OSI seven layer model for networking was developed by ISO (International Standard Organisation) to define standardized methods for designing internetworks and their function. Its goal is to provide standards to which all computers hardware and software vendors will adhere, so that multiplicity of interconnection and interface practices could be reduced, thus reducing the costs of designing and producing both hardware and software. It is “A suite of protocols and

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright  2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Murphy, G., & Kohli, G., & Maj, S. P., & Veal, D. (2005, June), A Conceptual Model As An Aid To Student Understanding Of Network Security Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14398