Assessing and Mitigating Risks in Computer Systems

Abstract

When it comes to non-trivial networked computer systems, bulletproof security is very hard to achieve. Over a system's lifetime new security risks are likely to emerge from e.g. newly discovered classes of vulnerabilities or the arrival of new threat agents. Given the dynamic environment in which computer systems are deployed, continuous evaluations and adjustments are wiser than one-shot e orts for perfection. Security risk management focuses on assessing and treating security risks against computer systems. In this thesis, elements from risk management are applied to two real-world systems to identify, evaluate, and mitigate risks. One of the pinpointed weaknesses is studied in-depth to produce an exploit against the a ected system. In addition, approaches to handle common software security problems are described.