Threats

Preface

How does R2-D2 know who Ben Kenobi is? How does he decide to play the recording of Princess Leia for Ben, but not Luke? How does Princess Leia tell R2 her intentions? These three questions touch on fundamental issues of security: authentication, authorization, and usability. (Star Wars geeks have an answer to the first from the prequels, but Leia does not know that answer.) What's more, the way the world of Star Wars engages with technology and computers gives us a familiar base from which to learn about how technology works in our world.

I was a Star Wars fan before I ever wrote a line of code and long before I broke my first system. As I became an expert in computer security, it became clear to me that we in the field are much better at code than with stories, and while it's tempting to say “That is why you fail,” telling better stories is not our only hope. As I reflected on Star Wars, I realized that as the crawl fades, the camera descends onto Princess Leia's ship being pursued over…a stolen data tape! I realized Star Wars is not only the story of Luke's hero's journey and growth into adulthood but also a story of information disclosure and its consequences. Over the last decade, I've used Star Wars to tell the story of computer security because the epic stories give us reference points and illustrations of important issues.

In this book, almost every reference is to the original trilogy. There is material I could use in Rogue One, in the prequels and sequels, ...