A Vulnerable System: The History of Information Security in the Computer Age

Andrew J. Stewart

ISBN 10: 1501758942 / ISBN 13: 9781501758942

Published by Cornell University Press, 2021

About this Item

2021. Hardback. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9781501758942

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Vulnerable System: The History of Information Security in the Computer Age
• Publisher: Cornell University Press
• Publication Date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1501758942
• ISBN 13: 9781501758942
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

As threats to the security of information pervade the fabric of everyday life, A Vulnerable System describes how, even as the demand for information security increases, the needs of society are not being met. The result is that the confidentiality of our personal data, the integrity of our elections, and the stability of foreign relations between countries are increasingly at risk.

Andrew J. Stewart convincingly shows that emergency software patches and new security products cannot provide the solution to threats such as computer hacking, viruses, software vulnerabilities, and electronic spying. Profound underlying structural problems must first be understood, confronted, and then addressed.

A Vulnerable System delivers a long view of the history of information security, beginning with the creation of the first digital computers during the Cold War. From the key institutions of the so-called military industrial complex in the 1950s to Silicon Valley start-ups in the 2020s, the relentless pursuit of new technologies has come at great cost. The absence of knowledge regarding the history of information security has caused the lessons of the past to be forsaken for the novelty of the present, and has led us to be collectively unable to meet the needs of the current day. From the very beginning of the information age, claims of secure systems have been crushed by practical reality.

The myriad risks to technology, Stewart reveals, cannot be addressed without first understanding how we arrived at this moment. A Vulnerable System is an enlightening and sobering history of a topic that affects crucial aspects of our lives.

About the Author

Andrew J. Stewart is an officer at a global investment bank. He received his MSc in Information Security from Royal Holloway, University of London.