Using Deceptive Information in Computer Security Defenses

2. Computer Security Defenses

Achieving security cannot be done with single, silver-bullet solution; instead, good security involves a collection of mechanisms that work together to balance the cost of securing computer systems with the possible damage caused by security compromises. In Figure 1, we present taxonomy of protection mechanisms commonly used in systems’ defenses. The diagram shows four major categories of protection mechanisms and illustrates how they intersect achieving multiple goals.

Figure 1.

Taxonomy of information protection mechanisms

The rationale behind having these intersecting categories is that a single layer of security is not adequate to protect organizations – so multi-level security controls are needed (Sourour et al, 2009). In this model, the first goal is to deny unauthorized access and isolate our computer systems from untrusted agents. However, if adversaries succeed in penetrating these security defenses, we should have degradation and obfuscation mechanisms in place that slow the lateral movement of attackers in penetrating our internal systems. At the same time, this should make the extraction of data from penetrated systems more challenging.