Computer Security: Principles and Practice

Citation

Stallings, W., & Brown, L. (2023). Computer Security: Principles and Practice (5th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The publisher lists 24 chapters followed by appendices and a glossary, and describes the book as "a balanced presentation of both principles and practice" with broad coverage of computer and network security. The chapters below are grouped by theme; the numbering follows the publisher's contents list.

Chapter 1: Overview

The opening chapter introduces the subject and sets the framework for the rest of the book.

Chapters 2–4: Cryptographic Tools; User Authentication; Access Control

These three chapters present the basic technical building blocks of security. Chapter 2 introduces cryptographic tools, Chapter 3 deals with proving who a user is, and Chapter 4 with controlling what an authenticated user may do.

Chapters 5–9: Database and Data Center Security; Malicious Software; Denial-of-Service Attacks; Intrusion Detection; Firewalls and Intrusion Prevention Systems

This group moves from securing data stores and data centers to threats (malware, denial of service) and the defences against them: intrusion detection, firewalls and intrusion prevention.

Chapters 10–13: Buffer Overflow; Software Security; Operating Systems Security; Cloud and IoT Security

The next group looks at security inside programs and platforms. Chapter 10 isolates buffer overflow as a case, Chapter 11 treats software security more generally, Chapter 12 turns to operating systems, and Chapter 13 covers cloud and Internet-of-Things security.

Chapters 14–19: IT Security Management and Risk Assessment; IT Security Controls, Plans, and Procedures; Physical and Infrastructure Security; Human Resources Security; Security Auditing; Legal and Ethical Aspects

The management chapters take the subject beyond technology to risk assessment, the controls, plans and procedures an organization adopts, physical and human factors, auditing, and the legal and ethical setting.

Chapters 20–21: Symmetric Encryption and Message Confidentiality; Public-Key Cryptography and Message Authentication

These chapters give the detail behind the cryptographic tools of Chapter 2: encryption for confidentiality and public-key methods together with message authentication.

Chapters 22–24: Internet Security Protocols and Standards; Internet Authentication Applications; Wireless Network Security

The final chapters apply the earlier material to networks: security protocols and standards for the Internet, authentication applications, and wireless network security.

Appendices and Glossary

The appendices cover projects and other student exercises for teaching computer security, some aspects of number theory, standards and standard-setting organizations, random and pseudorandom number generation, message authentication codes based on block ciphers, the TCP/IP protocol architecture, Radix-64 conversion, the Domain Name System, the base rate fallacy, and SHA-3.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–9: Foundations and Defences

• Cryptographic tools: the encryption and authentication primitives on which other mechanisms rely.
• User authentication and access control: establishing identity and limiting what that identity can do.
• Malware and denial of service: two of the main classes of attack.
• Intrusion detection and firewalls: monitoring and filtering defences, including intrusion prevention.

Chapters 10–13: Software and Platforms

• Buffer overflow: a memory-safety flaw treated in its own chapter.
• Operating system, cloud and IoT security: security concerns of the platforms that programs run on.

Chapters 14–19: Management

• Risk assessment: identifying and evaluating threats as the basis for choosing controls.
• Security controls, plans and procedures: how an organization turns risk decisions into practice.
• Auditing and legal and ethical aspects: checking that security works and understanding the obligations around it.

Chapters 20–24: Cryptographic Algorithms and Network Security

• Symmetric and public-key cryptography: the algorithms behind confidentiality and message authentication.
• Internet security protocols and authentication applications: how those algorithms are packaged for network use.
• Wireless network security: protecting wireless links.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Broad coverage in one volume. The contents run from cryptography and access control to malware, software security, management and law, so one book can support a course that mixes technical and organizational topics.
• Explicit attention to practice. The publisher's description names hands-on security education, research, programming and firewall projects, hacking and lab exercises, case studies and security assessments, and an appendix is devoted to projects and student exercises for teaching the subject.
• Management chapters. Six chapters (14–19) cover risk assessment, controls, physical and infrastructure security, human resources security, auditing and legal and ethical aspects, a combination that technical security texts often omit.
• Supporting appendices. Number theory, the TCP/IP architecture, the Domain Name System and random number generation are supplied as appendices, so readers weak in those areas have a reference without leaving the book.

Limitations

• Cryptography is split. Cryptographic tools appear in Chapter 2 but the algorithms are in Chapters 20 and 21, so readers who need the detail early must jump ahead.
• Breadth limits depth. Twenty-four chapters plus appendices cover a very wide field; the publisher's description emphasizes principles, design approaches, standards and examples, so readers who want formal security models or proofs of security will need the more specialized books listed below.
• Incremental revision. According to the preface, the fifth edition brings refinements for pedagogy and usability, updated references, mention of recent security incidents and a number of more substantive changes, so readers who already own the fourth edition should compare contents before replacing it.

Where It Fits in the Course

Stallings and Brown is the broad survey among the course books. Easttom's Computer Security Fundamentals is a gentler survey for readers with no security background, while Bishop's Computer Security: Art and Science treats the subject as a discipline with its own formal models and is a graduate-level next step for the access control and policy chapters. Anderson's Security Engineering approaches the subject through case studies and the economics and psychology of real systems, and its complete third edition is free as a PDF from the author's website, so it is a useful companion to the management chapters.

For cryptography specifically, Paar, Pelzl and Güneysu's Understanding Cryptography is an introduction that explains the main ciphers and protocols without formal proofs and fits alongside Chapters 2 and 20–21. Katz and Lindell's Introduction to Modern Cryptography is a rigorous treatment built on definitions and proofs of security, and is the book to read after those chapters if the aim is to understand why the schemes are secure.

How to Use This Book

The book suits an undergraduate course in computer security, students in information-technology programs, and practitioners who want an organized overview of the field. The publisher does not state prerequisites. The appendices on number theory, the TCP/IP architecture and the Domain Name System show where background help is built in, and some familiarity with operating systems and networks will make the software and network chapters easier.

A practical plan:

• Core: Chapter 1, then Chapters 2 to 9 in order for the technical foundations and the main attacks and defences.
• By course emphasis: Chapters 10 to 13 for a systems and software focus; Chapters 14 to 19 for a management or policy focus; Chapters 22 to 24 for a network focus.
• Cryptography detail: read Chapters 20 and 21 once Chapter 2 is familiar, or pair them with a dedicated cryptography text.
• Practice: use the projects and exercises in the first appendix and the hands-on firewall and lab work the publisher describes, since the subject is learned best by trying attacks and defences in a safe environment.