Unit 1: Information Security, Cloud Computing, and IoT Study and IoT Notes on IoT

Foundations of Cyber Security and Information Security

  • Cyber: A prefix denoting relationship with Information Technology (IT), including computing and the internet.

  • Cyber Security: Techniques protecting computers, networks, programs, and data from unauthorized access or attacks.

  • Major Areas:     - Application Security: Protects applications during development via input validation and role authentication.     - Information Security: Protects privacy and avoids identity theft using identification and cryptography.     - Disaster Recovery: Risk assessment and planning to resume business after a disaster.     - Network Security: Protects network reliability using Firewalls, VPNs, and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS).

  • C-I-A Triad:     - Confidentiality: Ensuring only authorized persons access secret information.     - Integrity: Protecting the trustworthiness and correctness of information from unauthorized modification.     - Availability: Ensuring information is accessible to authorized users when needed.

Access Control and Accountability Principles

  • Identify-Authenticate-Authorize (IAA) Sequence:     - Identification: The first step requiring unique names (locally or globally unique) to establish accountability.     - Authentication: Verifying authenticity via What you know (passwords), What you have (tokens), or What you are (biometrics).     - Authorization: Assigning privileges (rights/permissions) defined by security policies.

  • Accountability: Tracing actions to users via Logs (high-level events) and Audit Trails (low-level operations).

  • Nonrepudiation: Assurance that a party cannot deny an action, typically achieved through digital signatures.

Cybercrime and Attack Techniques

  • Cybercrime: A crime where a computer is either the object or the tool used to commit an offense.

  • Categories:     - Property: Stealing bank details or making illegal purchases.     - Individual: Distributing malicious information, cyberstalking, or trafficking.     - Government: Hacking military or government sites (Cyber terrorism).

  • Common Attacks:     - DoS/DDoS: Overwhelming networks with traffic to make services unavailable.     - Botnets: Networks of infected "zombie" computers controlled by a remote hacker.     - Social Engineering: Manipulating individuals (often via phone/email) to reveal sensitive information.     - Phishing: Sending malicious URLs/attachments to gain account access.     - Malware Types: Adware (forced advertising), Spyware (data theft), Viruses (needs human intervention to spread), and Worms (self-replicating).

Cyber Security Defense Techniques

  • Encryption:     - Symmetric: The same key is used for both locking and unlocking data.     - Asymmetric (Public Key): Uses a Public key for encryption and a Private key for decryption.

  • Digital Signatures: Used for validation and authentication by encrypting data with a sender's private key.

  • Firewalls: Acts as a shield between an internal network and the internet using packet filtering, proxying, or stateful inspection.

  • Steganography: The technique of hiding secret messages within documents, images, or program files.

Cloud Computing Concepts and Service Models

  • Cloud Computing: Delivery of computing services (storage, servers, databases) over the internet without active user management.

  • Deployment Models: Public, Private, and Hybrid clouds.

  • Service Models:     - IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service): Outsourcing infrastructure like virtual machines and storage (e.g., AWS, Azure).     - PaaS (Platform as a Service): Provides runtime environments for developers to test/run apps (e.g., Google App Engine).     - SaaS (Software as a Service): On-demand software accessed via a browser (e.g., Salesforce, Google Apps).

Internet of Things (IoT) Fundamentals

  • IoT: A network of physical objects embedded with sensors and software to collect and exchange data.

  • IoT Architecture Components: Sensors, Gateway, Cloud Gateway, Big Data Warehouse, and User Applications.

  • Key Characteristics: Connectivity, Sensing, Scale, Dynamic Nature, and Intelligence (using machine learning).

  • Network Layer Protocols:     - IPv4: 32-bit numerical label.     - IPv6: 128-bit number allowing approximately 3.4×10383.4 \times 10^{38} addresses.     - 6LoWPAN: IPv6 over Low-Power Wireless Personal Area Networks.

  • Application Layer Protocols: HTTP (stateless), CoAP (constrained devices), MQTT (lightweight publish/subscribe), and WebSocket (full-duplex).

Logical Design and IoT Deployment Levels

  • Functional Blocks: Device, Communication, Services, Management, Security, and Application.

  • Communication Models: Request-Response, Publish-Subscribe, Push-Pull, and Exclusive Pair.

  • IoT Levels:     - Level-1: Single node; local sensing and analysis (e.g., Home Automation).     - Level-2: Local analysis; cloud storage (e.g., Smart Irrigation).     - Level-3: Single node; cloud analysis (e.g., Package Tracking).     - Level-5: Multiple end nodes with a single coordinator node (e.g., Forest Fire Detection).     - Level-6: Multiple independent end nodes and centralized controller (e.g., Weather Monitoring).

Evolution of Distributed Computing and Web Services

  • Distributed Computing: Components of an application reside on different networked computers.

  • Key Technologies: CORBA (Object Request Broker), Java RMI (JRMP protocol), and DCOM (Microsoft specific).

  • MOM (Message-Oriented Middleware): Asynchronous communication using a messaging provider queue.

  • Web Services (SOA): Loosely coupled software components delivered over the internet using XML and programmable interfaces.

  • Core Blocks:     - SOAP: Messaging protocol.     - WSDL (Web Services Description Language): Describes services and input/output parameters.     - UDDI: Registry for publishing and discovering services.

  • WSDL Limitations: Declared faults must use Document style; parts cannot refer to the same element; mixed type messages are unsupported.