Computer Systems Security: Winter 2018 Assignment 4

This assignment is not yet finalized.

Due: April 9, 2018, 10 AM

1. [1] When code runs in a "sandboxed environment" does this refer to a specific security technology? Explain briefly.
2. [1] Why is it harder to implement protection boundaries within a process, as compared to having an operating system implement protection boundaries? Explain briefly.
3. [1] Which is a better interface for implementing security restrictions, function/method calls or system calls? Why?
4. [2] How do language runtimes (interpreted and just-in-time compiled) provide opportunities for enforcing security properties? Can these properties also be enforced when code is compiled (and at what cost)?
5. [4] Choose a specific Chrome or Firefox extension.
   1. [1] What does this extension do?
   2. [1] What permissions does it need?
   3. [1] Why does it need these permissions?
   4. [1] Is it possible for the extension to perform actions unrelated to its purpose with these permissions? Explain briefly.
6. [4] How is iOS runtime security (see Apple's Security Whitepaper, p. 23-24) like OS virtualization, as implemented, for example, by Linux-VServer? How is it different? Explain each and compare/contrast.
7. [8] Define whitelists, blacklists, anomaly detection, and virtualization. Explain how they are four fundamental strategies in computer security. For each, give an example of a security mechanism that makes use of the strategy.