Information security

Abstract

In the field of information security, it is commonly accepted that security belongs at the lowest possible level of the processing stack [1]. If affirmative, one might ask, why is the issue of application security even being considered? Applications, after all, sit at the very top of the stack. The analog of a house built on a firm foundation is well known and easily understood. If he foundation is unsound, no structure will stand on it for too long. What is less well understood is that the converse is equally true. No matter how strong the foundation, where the house erected on the foundation is flimsy, the overall structure is unsound. The same is true with information security. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.