NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: M. E. KABAY ON SECURITY
08/23/05
Today's focus: Security applications for 'smart dust'
Dear security.world@gmail.com,
In this issue:
* Dust, Inc., touts benefits of tiny wireless sensors
* Links related to Security
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Qualys
Test your Network Security for FREE with QualysGuard
Testing and improving your network security has never been
easier. Requiring NO software, QualysGuard will safely and
accurately audit your network and provide you with the necessary
fixes to proactively guard your network. Try QualysGuard Risk
Free with No Obligation.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110115
_______________________________________________________________
SPLIT-ANALYSIS WIRELESS SECURITY
Wireless security tools perform security analysis in sensors
scattered throughout a wireless LAN or in a central server, but
both options have drawbacks. A blended approach to wireless
security lets sensors and servers share the job of analysis.
Find out how split-analysis could boost wireless security on
your network. Click here:
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110718
_______________________________________________________________
Today's focus: Security applications for 'smart dust'
By M. E. Kabay
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which supported
the development of the Internet in the 1960s, has been providing
research funds for almost 20 years devoted to the development of
microelectromechanical systems. Of special interest in this area
for security specialists is the work of Kristofer S. J. Pister,
professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at the
University of California at Berkeley and also CEO of Dust, Inc.
As the name implies, Pister's company
<http://www.dust-inc.com/flash-index.shtml> specializes in the
development and practical applications of "smart dust," which
are tiny wireless sensors ("motes," ideally less than 1 cubic
millimeter) that can communicate with each other and with
computers to provide dynamic environmental and positional
information.
Pister and his colleagues have been working on smart dust since
the early 1990s and are coming close to achieving the
cubic-millimeter goal. Currently, the company describes three
major areas of application: building automation, industrial
monitoring and security systems.
According to the company's Web site
<http://www.dust-inc.com/solutions/ba.shtml>, using cheap,
independently powered sensors that can be placed anywhere in a
building can help improve energy management,
heating/ventilation/air-conditioning, security systems,
environmental monitoring, lighting controls and fire systems.
In the industrial monitoring area, the devices can improve
predictive maintenance, equipment utilization, process
monitoring and remote asset monitoring.
For readers of this column, perhaps the most interesting
application is in security
<http://www.dust-inc.com/solutions/ss.shtml>, where the
suggestions include commercial security systems, perimeter
security, civil infrastructure monitoring, intruder detection,
personnel protection, remote site surveillance and unattended
ground sensors. In particular, the motes are much less expensive
to buy and quicker to install than a wired system and can easily
be redeployed as conditions change
<http://www.dust-inc.com/solutions/commercial_security.shtml>.
For perimeter security, similar considerations make it much
cheaper to install wireless motes on, say, oil pipelines,
pumping stations and other unattended system components.
I can imagine motes being useful as physical intrusion sensors
for lights-out equipment rooms in remote areas of large office
complexes or factories; as environmental sensors placed inside
equipment that has proven to have unreliable temperature sensors
in past breakdowns; as supplementary noise sensors to detect the
first evidence of impending hardware failures in mechanical
devices such as disk drives, optical recording systems and media
silos.
The motes could even be used as adjuncts to system security for
tracking authorized personnel throughout a facility. This
application also raises the obvious possibility that the tiny
transmitters could be attached, ` la James Bond, to the clothing
or briefcases of unsuspecting surveillance victims - but such
applications are possible even now using more expensive devices.
As Pister writes:
"Yes, personal privacy is getting harder and harder to come by.
Yes, you can hype Smart Dust as being great for big brother...
Yawn. Every technology has a dark side - deal with it. [This was
my original comment on 'dark side' issues, but it made a lot of
people think that we weren't thinking about these issues at all.
Not true.] As an engineer, or a scientist, or a hair stylist,
everyone needs to evaluate what they do in terms of its positive
and negative effect. If I thought that the negatives of working
on this project were larger than or even comparable to the
positives, I wouldn't be working on it. As it turns out, I think
that the potential benefits of this technology far far outweigh
the risks to personal privacy."
Very interesting stuff. Pister's Web site has many links for
further exploration, including descriptions of robotic insects.
Golly, maybe my Ph.D. in invertebrate zoology is eventually
going to be useful in computer science after all:
Mastering a Master's Degree - and Your Professional Career
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5691>
The top 5: Today's most-read stories
1. Cisco preparing management play
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5692>
2. VoIP security threats: Fact or fiction?
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec3758nlsecuritynewsal4059>
3. Questions surround smartphone security
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5693>
4. CLECs play a new tune
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5694>
5. Google goes berserk
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsecuritynewsal5333>
Today's most-forwarded story:
Cisco preparing management play
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlsec5695>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: M. E. Kabay
M. E. Kabay, Ph.D., CISSP, is Associate Professor in the
Division of Business and Management at Norwich University in
Northfield, Vt. Mich can be reached by e-mail
<mailto:mkabay@norwich.edu> and his Web site
<http://www2.norwich.edu/mkabay/index.htm>.
New information assurance journal - Norwich University Journal
of Information Assurance (NUJIA). See
<http://nujia.norwich.edu/>
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Qualys
Test your Network Security for FREE with QualysGuard
Testing and improving your network security has never been
easier. Requiring NO software, QualysGuard will safely and
accurately audit your network and provide you with the necessary
fixes to proactively guard your network. Try QualysGuard Risk
Free with No Obligation.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=110114
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS
Archive of the Security newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/sec/index.html
Security Research Center:
http://www.networkworld.com/topics/security.html
Instant sign-up for Security News Alert:
http://www.networkworld.com/isusecna
Instant sign-up for Virus & Bug Patch Alert:
http://www.networkworld.com/isubug
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
WIRELESS LANS BUYER'S GUIDE: THE GOODS ON 185 PRODUCTS
We've compiled the largest buyer's guide ever on wireless LAN
equipment. Whether you're looking for an access point, PC Card
or trying to decide between 802.11a, b or g, take a look at the
information that vendors have provided us. We've got the goods
on 185 products. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/bg/wlan/index.jsp>
_______________________________________________________________
May We Send You a Free Print Subscription?
You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered
at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by
receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply
today at http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2
International subscribers click here:
http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html
_______________________________________________________________
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail
newsletters, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx>
To change your e-mail address, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx>
Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to
this message.
This message was sent to: security.world@gmail.com
Please use this address when modifying your subscription.
_______________________________________________________________
Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor,
at: <mailto:jcaruso@nww.com>
Inquiries to: NL Customer Service, Network World, Inc., 118
Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772
For advertising information, write Kevin Normandeau, V.P. of
Online Development, at: <mailto:sponsorships@nwfusion.com>
Copyright Network World, Inc., 2005
No comments:
Post a Comment