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Senior Paper

Tomhave 2

Benjamin Tomhave

Senior Paper

Abstract:The old cliche "you can lead a horse to water but you can't

make it drink" represents one of the biggest challenges in computer

security. Though security issues are receiving an increasing amount of

coverage in the mass media, there still remains the problem of getting

system and network administrators to seek out information on security

beforeproblems arise. By teaching students and administrators how to

proactively continue their education, computer security methods and

theories can be made more effective.


Before breaking into the main thrust of my thesis, dealing with system and


network security and the problems associated with educating students and

administrators on the subject, I first feel it is beneficial to explain my background and

how I came to be interested in security. I will briefly outline my motivation for becoming

involved in security and then will finally come back to the term "security" by trying to

define it. Once this framework is established, I will progress to citing the challenge(s)

facing security today and then discuss some possible remedies.


I first became interested in security as a senior in high school. I had opted to


take a Computer Science course at Concordia College (Moorhead, MN), through

which I was given access to a UNIX system. After playing with the system, I became

increasingly aware of what is now termed the "underground," which is associated with

"hackers" and "crackers" and "phreaks."One of the reasons I became interested in

security, specifically, was because of a former friend of mine. While doing a CS

programming assignment in the lab one night, I encountered Brian and asked what he

was doing. He explained that he was working on setting up a contract for pirating

software. After asking many questions about this practice and concluding that it was

illegal and unethical, I began to work to find out more about his operation with the

hope of blowing the whistle on him. Though I was never able to collect any firm