CCS 2006

Keynote Talk

System and Network Trustworthiness in Perspective

Tuesday, 31 October 2006
9:30 - 10:30 AM

Speaker: Peter G. Neumann,
Principal Scientist, Principled Systems Group, Computer Science Laboratory
SRI International, Menlo Park CA 94025-3493 1-650-859-2375

Neumann [at] CSL.sri.com

http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann/


Abstract



  
  
    

This talk considers the challenges of achieving greater trustworthiness in
computer systems and networks and in the overall environments in which they
must operate.  Here are a few of the expected subthemes:


  "The future isn't what it used to be."

   It is becoming ever more difficult to keep up with critical
   needs for trustworthy applications in the face of increasing
   vulnerabilities, threats, ubiquitous societal dependence on information
   technology, and the resulting risks.
 

   "We need to go back to the future."
  
   We will look at some relevant past
   research efforts, examine the present state of the art, and extrapolate on
   what might be needed in the future.  We take a long-term view on some of
   the hard problems that remain to be adequately addressed.
  

   "Progress is always slower than you'd think."  
     Proactive system
   development is often shunned, but has enormous potential payoffs.  We
   often repeat many of the mistakes of the past, many of which can be
   surmounted -- for example, using approaches such as evolvable system
   architectures, pervasive and predictable subsystem composability, sound
   uses of cryptography, intelligent interface design, judicious use of
   formal methods, and up-front attention to assured trustworthiness.
  
 




Speaker Biography:



  
  
    
   Peter G. Neumann (Neumann [at] CSL.sri.com) has 
    doctorates from Harvard and Darmstadt.  After 10 years at Bell
    Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, in the 1960s, during which he was
    heavily involved in the Multics development jointly with MIT and
    Honeywell, he has been in SRI's Computer Science Lab since
    September 1971.  He work concerns computer systems and networks,
    trustworthiness/dependability, high assurance, security,
    reliability, survivability, safety, and many risks-related issues
    such as voting-system integrity, crypto policy, social
    implications, and human needs including privacy.  He moderates the
    ACM Risks Forum, edits CACM's monthly Inside Risks column, chairs
    the ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy and the National
    Committee for Voting Integrity
    (http://www.epic.org/privacy/voting). He created ACM SIGSOFT's
    Software Engineering Notes in 1976, was its editor for 19 years,
    and still edits a bimonthly RISKS section.  He co-founded People
    For Internet Responsibility (PFIR, http://www.PFIR.org).  His 1995
    book, Computer-Related Risks, is still timely!  He is a Fellow of
    the ACM, IEEE, and AAAS, and is also an SRI Fellow.  He received
    the National Computer System Security Award in 2002 and the ACM
    SIGSAC Outstanding Contributions Award in 2005.  He is a member of
    the U.S. Government Accountability Office Executive Council on
    Information Management and Technology, and the California Office
    of Privacy Protection advisory council.  He has taught at
    Darmstadt, Stanford, U.C. Berkeley, and the University of
    Maryland.  See his website (http://www.csl.sri.com/neumann) for
    further background, U.S. Senate and House and California state
    testimonies, papers, bibliography, etc.



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