Editorial: Dependability and Security - IEEE Xplore

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON DEPENDABLE AND SECURE COMPUTING, VOL. 4, NO. 2, APRIL-JUNE 2007

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Editorial: Dependability and Security Ravishankar K. Iyer

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S the IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing enters its fourth year, it is taking its place as a premier IEEE Computer Society transaction, with its value and impact being recognized in the peer community worldwide. Last year, we mapped out the challenges and new directions the journal would pursue. In the journal’s fourth year, I see the transactions continuing to evolve and maintain its high profile in the dependability and security arenas. A brief overview of this issue’s offerings shows the range and quality of this up-and-coming journal. Cai et al.’s “Wormshield: Fast Worm Signature Generation with Distributed Fingerprint Aggregation” presents both theoretical modeling and experimental results on a collaborative worm signature generation system that employs distributed fingerprint filtering and aggregation and multiple edge networks. “Modeling and Simulation Study of the Propagation and Defense of Internet E-mail Worm” by Zou et al. introduces an e-mail worm simulation model that accounts for the behaviors of e-mail users, including e-mail checking time and the probability of opening an e-mail attachment. “Fast Worm Containment Using Feedback Control” by Dantu et al. proposes a novel security architecture based on control system theory. Peisert et al. demonstrate the value of analyzing sequences of function calls for forensic analysis in “Analysis of Computer Intrusions Using Sequences of Function Calls.” Reay et al. survey the adoption of the Platform for Privacy Preferences Protocol (PCP) on Internet Web sites to determine if P3P is a growing or stagnant technology in “A Survey and Analysis of the P3P Protocol’s Agents, Adoption, Maintenance, and Future.” We have established yearly special issues based on the two major conferences in the Dependability and Security areas: the Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks and the Symposium on Security and Privacy. Future issues will include the publication of the second edition of each of these special issues. Given the status of TDSC at this time as a quarterly journal, we plan on keeping these special issues as we move forward, looking out for new opportunities for topical special issues. A statistic of interest is that, during the past year, TDSC received a total of 185 manuscripts, up from 179 last year. In 2007, we have so far received 51 manuscripts. Last year, we published 29 papers in four issues. This year we welcome new Associate Editors: Brian Randell, Lisa Spainhower, Doug Tygar, and Jeannette M. Wing. Each of them brings unique experience which adds to the ability of the editorial board to maintain the excellent quality of the journal. Completing their terms as Associate Editors are Mark Dacier, Jean-Claude Laprie, and Carl Landwehr. I would like to thank them for their outstanding service and dedication to this journal since its inception. On this fourth anniversary, I wish to thank all of our 2006 associate editors, authors, and reviewers, each of whom makes the success of TDSC possible. I also wish to thank the wonderful publications staff at the IEEE Computer Society Publications office, in particular Suzanne Wagner and Joyce Arnold, whose support and dedication have helped us through our third year. Here at the University of Illinois, special thanks go to Heidi Leerkamp and Gerasimoula Kokkosis for providing exceptional support during this past year. Most importantly, my thanks go to the peer community at large—with your support TDSC goes forth into its fourth year with confidence and enthusiasm.

Ravishankar K. Iyer Editor-in-Chief ✦

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Published by the IEEE Computer Society

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Brian Randell graduated in mathematics from Imperial College, London, in 1957 and joined the English Electric Company, where he led a team that implemented a number of compilers, including the Whetstone KDF9 Algol compiler. From 1964 to 1969, he was with IBM in the United States, mainly at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, working on operating systems, the design of ultrahigh speed computers, and computing system design methodology. He then became professor of computing science at Newcastle University, where, in 1971, he set up the project that initiated research into the possibility of software fault tolerance and introduced the “recovery block” concept. Subsequent major developments included the Newcastle Connection and the prototype Distributed Secure System. He has been a principal investigator on a succession of research projects in reliability and security funded by the Science Research Council (now Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), the Ministry of Defence, the European Strategic Programme of Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT), and now the European Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme. Most recently, he has had the role of project director of CaberNet (the IST Network of Excellence on Distributed Computing Systems Architectures) and of two IST Research Projects, MAFTIA (Malicious- and Accidental-Fault Tolerance for Internet Applications) and DSoS (Dependable Systems of Systems). He has published nearly 200 technical papers and reports and is coauthor or editor of seven books. He is now an emeritus professor of computing science and senior research investigator at Newcastle University. He was a member of the Conseil Scientifique of the CNRS, France (2001-2005), and chairman of the IEEE John von Neumann Medal Committee (2003-2005), is a member of the ACM A.M. Turing Award Committee (2005-2009), and has received Honorary Doctorates from the University of Rennes and the Institut National Polytechnique of Toulouse, France, and the IEEE Emanuel R. Piore 2002 Award. Lisa Spainhower received the BA degree from the University of Michigan. She is a distinguished engineer in the System Design Organization of the IBM System and Technology Group, Poughkeepsie, New York, responsible for high availability and fault-tolerant server design. She is a member of the IBM Academy of Technology, IEEE Computer Society, Executive Committee of the IEEE Technical Committee on Fault-Tolerant Computing, and IFIP WG 10.4 on Dependable Computing and Fault Tolerance.

Doug Tygar received the undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), and the doctorate from Harvard University. He is a professor of computer science and information management at UC Berkeley. He works in the areas of computer security, privacy, and electronic commerce. His current research includes privacy, security issues in sensor webs, digital rights management, and usable computer security. His awards include a US National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award, an Okawa Foundation Fellowship, a teaching award from Carnegie Mellon University, and invited keynote addresses at PODC, PODS, VLDB, and many other conferences. He has written three books; his book Secure Broadcast Communication in Wired and Wireless Networks (with Adrian Perrig) is a standard reference and has been translated into Japanese. He designed cryptographic postage standards for the US Postal Service and has helped build a number of security and electronic commerce systems, including Strongbox, Dyad, Netbill, and Micro-Tesla. He served as chair of the US Department of Defense’s ISAT Study Group on Security with Privacy and was a founding board member of ACM’s Special Interest Group on Electronic Commerce. He helped create and remains an active member of TRUST (Team for Research in Ubiquitous Security Technologies). TRUST is a new US National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center with headquarters at UC Berkeley which involves faculty from Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Stanford, and Vanderbilt. Before coming to UC Berkeley, Dr. Tygar was a tenured faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University’s Computer Science Department, where he continues to hold an adjunct professor position.


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Jeanne e M. Wing received the SB and SM degrees in electrical engineering and computer science in 1979 and the PhD degree in computer science in 1983, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She is the President’s Professor of Computer Science and the head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. Starting July 2007, she will be the assistant director of the Computer and Information Science and Engineering Directorate at the US National Science Foundation. Her general research interests are in the areas of specification and verification, concurrent and distributed systems, and programming languages. Her current focus is on the foundations of trustworthy computing. Professor Wing has published extensively in top journals and major conferences and has given more than 200 invited, keynote, and distinguished lectures. She was or is on the editorial boards of nine journals, including the Journal of the ACM. She is a member of many advisory boards, including: the Networking and Information Technology (NITRD) Technical Advisory Group to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Tecbnology (PCAST), the National Academies of Sciences’s Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Academic Advisory Board, the Intel Research Pittsburgh’s Advisory Board, Dartmouth’s Institute for Security Technology Studies Advisory Committee, and the Idaho National Laboratory and Homeland Security Strategic Advisory Committee. She is a member-at-large of the ACM Council. She is a member of the Sloan Research Fellowships Program Committee. She was a member of the DARPA Information Science and Technology (ISAT) Board and the National Science Foundation Scientific Advisory Board. She was on the faculty at the University of Southern California and has worked at the USC/ Information Sciences Institute and Xerox Palo Alto Research Laboratories. She spent sabbaticals at MIT in 1992 and at Microsoft Research 2002-2003. She has consulted for Digital Equipment Corporation, the Mellon Institute (Carnegie Mellon Research Institute), System Development Corporation, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She is a member of AAAS, ACM, IEEE, Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kappa Nu. Professor Wing is an ACM fellow and an IEEE fellow.