Secure system design: least privilege, defence in depth and secure development

This week’s topics

Secure system design: least privilege, defence in depth and secure development

1. The principles of secure design of cyber systems
2. A range of strategies for implementing secure design to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks

What you will be able to do

• 3.2 Explain the principles of secure design of cyber systems.
• 3.3 Analyse a range of strategies for implementing secure design to prevent and mitigate cyberattacks.

Activity

Start with this week’s 4 videos, then: Seminar, guided reading and a short written task: explain the principles of secure design of cyber systems.

Study materials

Videos

• Defence against malware · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students
• Testing as a form of defence · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students
• Preventing cyber attacks · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 3 (lower secondary level) · for registered students
• Designing robust programs · Oak National Academy, Key Stage 4 (GCSE level) · for registered students

Further resources

• Introduction to Computer Science, 14.2: Defensive Programming · PDF · OpenStax Introduction to Computer Science (2024), 14.2 on defensive programming and secure implementation, pp. 866–869 · for registered students
• NIST SP 800-218: Secure Software Development Framework · PDF · NIST SP 800-218 (2022), section 2 (first parts) on secure development practices (a step up), pp. 4–10 · for registered students
• Introduction to Computer Science, 14.2: Software Security · PDF · OpenStax Introduction to Computer Science (2024), 14.2: buffer overflows, code injection and how exploits work (a step up), pp. 853–863 · for registered students
• NIST SP 800-83r1, section 3: Malware Incident Prevention · PDF · NIST SP 800-83 Rev. 1 (2013), section 3: antivirus software, firewalls, updates and secure settings (a step up), pp. 6–16 · for registered students