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Impacts of information system vulnerabilities on society

Published: 07 June 1982 Publication History

Abstract

After briefly presenting examples of potential vulnerabilities in computer systems which society relies on, the concept of risk analysis is introduced and applied to a simplified model for a nation's financial system. A sampling of specific technical safeguards to ameliorate the risk in this (or any) computer system is then given. The paper concludes with examples of questions to be asked before committing to any new technological system.

References

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Sweden, Ministry of Defence, The Vulnerability of the Computerized Society---Considerations and Proposals, 1980.
[2]
U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Computer-Based National Information Systems; Technology and Public Policy Issues, September 1981.
[3]
U.S. National Bureau of Standards, Guidelines for Automatic Data Processing Risk Analysis, FIPS PUB 65, August 1979.
[4]
Hoffman, L. J. and L. A. Neitzel. "Inexact Analysis of Risk." Computer Security Journal, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Spring 1981), Hudson, Mass.
[5]
Meadows, C. Identifying the Greatest Contributor to Risk in a Tree Model. The George Washington University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Research Report GWU-EECS-81-09, May 1981.
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Martin, James. Security, Accuracy, and Privacy in Computer Systems, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973.
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Hoffman, L. J. Modern Methods for Computer Security and Privacy, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1977.
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Fernandez, E. G., R. C. Summers, and C. Wood. Database Security and Integrity, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1981.
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U.S. National Bureau of Standards, Data Encryption Standard FIPS PUB 46, Washington, D.C. 1977.
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Hellman, M. E. "An Overview of Public Key Cryptography." IEEE Communications Society Magazine, November 1978, pp. 24--32.
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Denning, D. E. "Are Statistical Data Bases Secure?" AFIPS Conference Proceedings of the National Computer Conference (Vol. 47) 1978, pp. 525--530.
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Denning, D. E., and J. Schlörer. "A Fast Procedure for Finding a Tracker in a Statistical Database." ACM Transactions on Database Systems (Vol. 5) No. 1, March 1980, pp. 88--102.
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Tengelin, U. "The Vulnerability of the Computerised Society." in Proceedings of the High Level Conference on Information, Computer, and Communications Policies for the 80's, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Paris, 1980, pp. 359--377.
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Schmucker, K. "Fuzzy Sets, Natural Language Computations and Risk Analysis." The George Washington University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Research Report GWU-EECS-81-10, May 1981.
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Okrent, D. (Ed.). "Risk-Benefit Methodology and Application: Some Papers Presented at the Engineering Foundation Workshop." September 22--26, 1975, Asilomar, Calif., School of Engineering and Applied Science, University of California, Los Angeles. Report UCLA-ENG-7598 (NTIS-PB-261920), December 1975.
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Hoffman, L. J. "Tree-Based Risk Analysis Using Inexact Estimates." Report GWU-IIST-81-14, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., June 1981.
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Zadeh, L. A., K. S. Fu, K. Tanaka, and M. Shimura (Eds.). Fuzzy Sets and Their Applications to Cognitive and Decision Processes. New York: Academic Press, 1975.
[18]
Denning, Dorothy. Cryptography and Data Security. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1982.
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Okrent, D. "Risk-Benefit Evaluation for Large Technological Systems." Nuclear Safety (Vol. 20) No. 2, March---April 1979, pp. 148--164.
[20]
Lowrance, W. W. Of Acceptable Risk: Science and The Determination of Safety. Los Altos, Calif.: William Kaufmann, Inc., 1976.
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Rowe, W. L. An Anatomy of Risk, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1977.

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  1. Impacts of information system vulnerabilities on society

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      cover image ACM Other conferences
      AFIPS '82: Proceedings of the June 7-10, 1982, national computer conference
      June 1982
      857 pages
      ISBN:088283035X
      DOI:10.1145/1500774
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      Published: 07 June 1982

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