Computer Security Handbook, Fifth Edition

CHAPTER 4

HARDWARE ELEMENTS OF SECURITY

Sy Bosworth and Stephen Cobb

4.1 INTRODUCTION

4.2 BINARY DESIGN

4.2.1 Pulse Characteristics

4.2.2 Circuitry

4.2.3 Coding

4.3 PARITY

4.3.1 Vertical Redundancy Checks

4.3.2 Longitudinal Redundancy Checks

4.3.3 Cyclical Redundancy Checks

4.3.4 Self-Checking Codes

4.4 HARDWARE OPERATIONS

4.5 INTERRUPTS

4.5.1 Types of Interrupts

4.5.2 Trapping

4.6 MEMORY AND DATA STORAGE

4.6.1 Main Memory

4.6.2 Read-Only Memory

4.6.3 Secondary Storage

4.7 TIME

4.7.1 Synchronous

4.7.2 Asynchronous

4.8 NATURAL DANGERS

4.8.1 Power Failure

4.8.2 Heat

4.8.3 Humidity

4.8.4 Water

4.8.5 Dirt and Dust

4.8.6 Radiation

4.8.7 Downtime

4.9 DATA COMMUNICATIONS

4.9.1 Terminals

4.9.2 Wired Facilities

4.9.3 Wireless Communication

4.10 CRYPTOGRAPHY

4.11 BACKUP

4.11.1 Personnel

4.11.2 Hardware

4.11.3 Power

4.11.4 Testing

4.12 RECOVERY PROCEDURES

4.13 MICROCOMPUTER CONSIDERATIONS

4.13.1 Accessibility

4.13.2 Knowledge

4.13.3 Motivation

4.13.4 Opportunity

4.13.5 Threats to Microcomputers

4.13.6 Maintenance and Repair

4.14 CONCLUSION

4.15 HARDWARE SECURITY CHECKLIST

4.16 FURTHER READING

4.1 INTRODUCTION.

Computer hardware has always played a major role in computer security. Over the years, that role has increased dramatically, due to both the increases in processing power, storage capacity, and communications capabilities as well as the decreases in cost and size of components. The ubiquity of cheap, powerful, highly connected computing devices poses significant challenges to computer ...