Posted: May 11th, 2022

Balance of Simplicity and Security

Balance of Simplicity and Security
According to Gantz and Philpott (2013), security architectures are the elements within an enterprises’ architecture that address the security requirements needed to keep information systems and operating environments running efficiently. The elements of a secure system include availability, confidentiality and integrity. Therefore, since different businesses have different needs and policies, different models exist to serve the particular needs of each business.
For instance, State Machine models group system occurrences into states, that are evaluated to show all possible interactions between subjects and objects (Harris & Foreword 2001, p. 212). Once every state is proven to be secure, then the entire system is declared secure, which increases system availability. On the other hand, the Bell-LaPadula model uses mandatory access controls to enforce defence multilevel security policies. This model provides properties that prohibit lower-level subjects from reading or writing information to a higher level of confidentiality (Harris & Foreword 2001, p.215). Thus, this model is more bent on enforcing maximum system confidentiality. Finally, there is the Biba model that is meant to address integrity concerns through the properties of having the simple integrity property, star integrity property and the invocation property. Here, subjects or objects of one level of integrity are not permitted to read or write to an object of lower integrity, respectively. Also, subjects at one level of integrity are prohibited from invoking a subject at a higher level of integrity. As such, the model focuses on protecting systems from unauthorized external users.
Based on the existence of these three security architecture models, the Bell-LaPadula Model provides the best balance between simplicity and security. This is because it classifies objects and subjects into security levels which must be examined for authorization before they can be allowed to access higher levels of a system’s architecture. This is quite simple to implement and is the first step in assuring the security of an enterprises’ architecture.

References
Gantz, S. D., & Philpott, D. R. (2012). FISMA and the risk management framework: the new practice of federal cybersecurity. Newnes.
Harris, S., & Foreword By-Kowtko, J. (2001). CISSP certification all-in-one exam guide. McGraw-Hill Professional.

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