Security Controls for Computer Systems
Abstract
With the advent of resource-sharing computer systems that distribute the capabilities and components of the machine configuration among several users or several tasks, a new dimension has been added to the problem of safeguarding computer-resident classified information. The basic problems associated with machine processing of classified information are not new. They have been encountered in the batch-processing mode of operation and, more recently, in the use of remote job-entry systems; the methods used to safeguard information in these systems have, for the most part, been extensions of the traditional manual means of handling classified documents. The increasingly widespread use of resource-sharing systems has introduced new complexities to the problem. Moreover, the use of such systems has focused attention on the broader issue of using computers regardless of the configuration, to store and process classified information. Resource-sharing systems are those that distribute the resources of a computer system (e.g., memory space, arithmetic units, peripheral equipment, channels) among a number of simultaneous users. The term includes systems commonly called time-sharing, multiprogrammed, remote batch, on-line, multiaccess, and, where two or more processors share all of the primary memory, multiprocessing. The principal distinction among the systems is whether a user must be present (at a terminal, for example) to interact with his job (time- sharing, on-line, multi-access), or whether the jobs execute autonomously (multiprogrammed, remote batch). Resource-sharing allows many people to use the same complex of computer equipment concurrently. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1970
- Accession Number
- AD0514974
Entities
People
- Willis H. Ware
Organizations
- RAND Corporation