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Computers at Risk Safe Computing in the Information Age (1991) / Chapter Skim
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E High-grade Threats
Pages 283-285

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From page 283...
... The rapidly decreasing cost of computer resources, the rapid spread of computer technology, and the increased value of information-based assets make it likely that high-grade threats will be encountered from other sources and with aims other than traditional espionage. A high-grade threat is distinguished from the common "hacker" or criminal by the following characteristics: · The threat has extensive resources in money, personnel, and technology.
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From page 284...
... High-grade countermeasure engineering has trad~tionally been associated with communications security devices and subsystems; the committee anticipates that it will, in the future, be applied to selected computer security functions such as reference monitors. In particular, this committee does not foresee that it will ever be feasible to apply high-grade countermeasures to a multitude of system elements, since technical advances that benefit the designer of countermeasures often benefit the attacker even more.2 This circumstance has important implications for the system-wide trade-offs that have to be made when a high-grade threat is considered.
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From page 285...
... Because of the extreme cost, short "security life," and difficult tradeoffs associated with high-grade countermeasures, operations that assess a high-grade threat as possible but not likely should seriously consider strategies that focus on recovery from, rather than prevention of, attack.
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Key Terms

  • elements engineered
  • attack attempts
  • increased value
  • extreme cost
  • rapidly decreasing

  • security standards
  • committee anticipates
  • specific data
  • tunneling attacks
  • major future

  • powerful computer
  • reference monitors
  • substantially increase
  • tradeoffs associated
  • decreasing cost

  • consider strategies
  • encrypt specific
  • security devices
  • common criminal
  • covert assaults

  • commercial rivals
  • digital encryption
  • security functions
  • countermeasure engineering
  • rapid spread

  • attack resembles
  • highly covert
  • future reward
  • computer resources
  • abstraction lower


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