Computer and Information Security Handbook, 2nd Edition

Chapter 32

Security Metrics

An Introduction and Literature Review

George O.M. Yee¹,    Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada K1S 5B6, ¹Email: [e-mail]

1 Introduction

We live in a world where attacks against computer systems are a fact of life. Barely a day goes by without headlines appearing about the latest systems compromised, in terms of Web sites being brought down by DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks, or the loss of privacy due to malware-infected computers. In response, systems owners have invested more and more funds into various forms of protection mechanisms (firewalls, biometrics, data encryption) as well as improved design of systems and work flows to provide more ...