| If this book is to succeed and help readers, its cardinal virtue must be to provide
a simple reference text. It should be an essential addition to an information
security library. As such it should also serve the purpose of being a quick
refresher for terms the reader has not seen since the days when one attended a
computing science program, information security course or workshop.
As a reference work, THE INFORMATION SECURITY DICTIONARY
provides a relatively complete and easy-to-read explanation of common security,
malware, vulnerability and infrastructure protection terms, without causing
much damage to the usually slim student pocketbook.
This dictionary can help non-specialist readers better understand the information
security issues encountered in their work or studying for their certification
examination or whilst doing a practical assignment as part of a workshop.
This book is also essential to a reference collection for an organization’s
system personnel. Special attention is paid to terms which most often prevent
educated readers from understanding journal articles and books in cryptology,
computing science, and information systems, in addition to applied fields that
build on those disciplines, such as system design, security auditing, vulnerability
testing, and role-based access management. The dictionary provides definitions
that enable readers to get through a difficult article or passage. We do not,
for the most part, directly explain how to conduct research or how to implement
the terms briefly described.
The emphasis throughout, is on concepts, rather than implementations. Because
the concepts are often complicated, readers may find that a definition
makes sense only after it has been illustrated by an example. Thus explanations
and illustrations are sometimes longer than the definitions. |
