Learn something new every day: NEAT

Recently read an article on Multiple Independent Levels of Security (MILS) which used an acronym whose concepts I was familiar with, but that I had not heard before: NEAT. It stands for:

1. Non-bypassable
2. Evaluatable
3. Always-invoked
4. Tamperproof

In a recent class, I commented on applying three of these to reference monitors and trusted computing bases:

1. tamper proof
2. non-bypassable
3. small enough/simple enough that it can be thoroughly tested for correctness

In retrospect, I probably should have mentioned to them the idea of "always-invoked" (note to self: include that in next class revision) and I probably could have saved some bandwidth by substituting in the much shorter word "evaluatable".

Well...you learn something new all the time, and for me, that is NEAT!

chalmer

P.S. NEAT gets mentions on page two of the four page article.

Lies, damn lies and statistics...

The following linked article from ComputerWorld UK has some interesting quotes about the growth of Windows operating systems in running a number of supercomputers. Apparently Windows has increased their market share by 400%, while in the same period, Linux only increased its market share by only 51%. This sounds pretty impressive, until you take the time to look at the numbers behind the numbers.

Read the article to see what I mean!

One of the principles I share with my students is to try to look at things with a critical eye. This is a great example of how numbers can be misleading.

chalmer