What's Cypersecurity all about?

Vaccine research patent details stolen by hackers! FILMSTAR BLACKMAILED AFTER CRIMINALS ACCESS PHOTOS ON SMARTPHONE ELDERLY WIDOW HAS INTERNET BANK ACCOUNT EMPTIED BY FRAUDSTERS All computers at local hospital paralysed by computer virus! Government cannot find documents stored on confidential database SMART TVs CAN SPY ON YOU AT HOME MAN ARRESTED FOR HAVING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY ON HIS LAPTOP ‘DIDN’T KNOW HOW IT GOT THERE’

Headlines like these reflect one of the dangers of modern life, where electronic communication between computers, smartphones and other electronic devices forms the basis for innumerable social, commercial and administrative activities. The aim of cybersecurity is to prevent such undesirable events from happening. 

This book gives a gentle introduction to what this involves, by answering questions such as: What should one look out for? How do failures of cybersecurity arise? And last but not least, why is perfect cybersecurity so hard to achieve? 

Content:Introduction Unwanted events 5 Attacks Examples Networks 11 Internet Layers Security challenges in networks A tricky problem: Authentification Why is spoofing so easy? Internet names and addresses Denial of Service Software Software vulnerabilities Finding software flaws Malicious software Protection against attacks Traffic control Malware control Monitoring behaviour Cryptographic techniques Contents Tunneling Access control Protecting large-scale infrastructure Human factors 59 Countering faulty thinking Exploitable mental properties Can psychological attacks be prevented? Why is cybersecurity so hard to achieve? The attackers’ strengths The defenders’ weaknessesA Some technical details Numbers and units Checksums Establishing personal identities Universal Resource Identifiers Mail relays B Acronyms C Figure sources References