Introduction

The Faculty of Science offer a three-year bachelor’s program in computer security. The Department of Computer Science and the Department of Mathematics and Statistics have responsibility for the teaching and supervision of this program.

There is a steadily increasing demand for efficiency in modern society, a demand that is being satisfied by the employment of information technology in the automation of more and more services. The challenge that is presented is to ensure that computer services should be as readily available for those who legitimately need access whilst ensuring that unauthorised access is prevented.

That which characterises the information society is that now everyone can rapidly communicate large amounts of information over great distances very cheaply. At the same time the access to information exists on a huge scale. Information systems, networks and services fuse together and the use of information technology permeates most aspects of modern life. The scale of the involvement of electronics in daily business life and the range of electronic services on offer is increasing rapidly and this development will continue.

Information technology has made modern society vulnerable in new areas and deliberate attacks on information systems come in different forms such as illegal access, the spreading of viruses and denial-of-service attacks. These attacks can be carried out whenever, against whomsoever and from just about anywhere. We are facing challenges in that certain states, groups or individuals can carry out coordinated IT-attacks and cripple essential services. In addition to deliberate attacks this vulnerability can also arise accidentally as a result of ignorance or carelessness. Instability in information systems can damage the achievement of important public goals and the protection of personal freedom. This can also weaken confidence and trust in IT as a basis for new business activities.

In certain cases absolute reliability has to be demanded of computer systems. Whether on board an aircraft, in a car or during medical treatment at a hospital, the failure of IT systems can have fatal consequences. Our need to be able to fully rely on computer systems will increase and presents us with the challenge of developing systems that are so reliable that no one need concern themselves about possible defects.

There are many examples of the application of computer security. Many people, for example, would like to be able to play the lottery from home, send in their coupons and pay for the service via the Internet. Given the necessity of a payments system the lottery company needs proof of the customer’s identity, thus creating the requirement for an electronic signature.
What about the possibility of electronic voting in parliamentary and local elections? In that event one would have to ensure that only those permitted to vote were allowed to do so – and only once in each election! Furthermore it would have to be impossible to change the vote in the aftermath of the election.