Internet and network security forms an interesting and topical, yet challenging and developing research domain. In this domain, a taxonomy of information security technologies is identified. This taxonomy is divided into two mainline entities, namely proactive and reactive information security technologies. This thesis is specifically concerned with proactive information security technologies, the focus being on a specific proactive information security technology – vulnerability scanning. Vulnerability scanning is implemented by vulnerability scanner (VS) products. VS products are used proactively to conduct vulnerability scans to identify vulnerabilities so that they can be rectified before they can be exploited by hackers. However, there are currently many problems with state-of-the-art VS products. For example, a vulnerability scan is time-consuming and a vast number of system resources are occupied, leading to the degradation of network and system performance. Furthermore, VS products lack the intelligence that is required to deal with new vulnerabilities that appear like clockwork. Current VS products also differ extensively in the way that they can detect vulnerabilities, as well as in the number of vulnerabilities that they can detect. These problems motivated the researcher to create a model for vulnerability forecasting (VF). The uniqueness of the VF model lies in its holistic approach to addressing these problems while maintaining its end goal – that of being able to do a vulnerability forecast of how vulnerabilities will occur in the near future. Such a vulnerability forecast would, therefore, enable an organisation to use it proactively as part of a risk management scheme. Furthermore, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing the proposed model, a report on the development of a prototype for vulnerability forecasting is included. Rather than reinventing the wheel, the prototype incorporates the use of current state-of-the-art VS products in its VF process. This is advantageous in the sense that the prototype is independent of a specific VS product. It is because of the latter that a standardisation technique had to be used to refer to vulnerabilities in the same way since different VS products do not refer to and detect similar vulnerabilities in the same way. This standardisation technique introduced in this thesis is known as harmonising vulnerability categories. This thesis contributes to the understanding of vulnerability scanning techniques and how vulnerability scanning can be utilised more effectively by doing vulnerability forecasting. The thesis also paves the way for numerous potential future research projects in the domain of Internet and network security. / Prof. J.H.P. Eloff
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8847 |
| Date | 04 June 2008 |
| Creators | Venter, Hein S. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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