Mastering™ Network Security, Second Edition

1.1. An Introduction to Systems Analysis

Systems analysis is the formal term for the process (which we cover in Chapter 2) that uses systems principles to identify, reconstruct, optimize, and control a system. Now, the trick is you have to be able to walk through that process while taking into account multiple objectives, constraints, and resources. Simple, but what's the point? Well, ultimately we want to create possible courses of action, together with their risks, costs, and benefits. And that, in a nutshell, is what network security is all about—choosing among multiple security alternatives to find the best one for our system, given our constraints (technical or financial, typically).

The principles that make up systems analysis come from ...