Principles of Data Security — Ernst L. Leiss, 1982 | Early Computer Security & Cryptography

Published in 1982, Principles of Data Security by computer scientist Ernst L. Leiss is an early systematic treatment of protecting information in computerized systems—written when networked and distributed computing were becoming common enough that data security was emerging as a distinct technical discipline.

Rather than treating security as a collection of isolated tricks, Leiss approaches it as a fundamental problem of computer-system design. The book covers four major areas: the foundations and motivation of data security, statistical database security, authorization and access-control mechanisms, and cryptosystems.

The statistical-database material is especially interesting historically. Researchers were already grappling with a problem that remains central to modern privacy engineering: even when users are prevented from directly viewing sensitive records, carefully constructed queries can sometimes reveal information indirectly. The mathematical examples in this volume examine ways information can be inferred from aggregate database responses.

Published only a few years after the landmark development of modern public-key cryptography, the book captures computer security at a formative point—before the commercial Internet, widespread personal computing, ransomware, cloud infrastructure, or modern cybersecurity terminology. Many of its core concerns nevertheless remain recognizable today: who should be allowed to access information, what they should be permitted to do with it, how databases can leak information indirectly, and how cryptography can protect stored and transmitted data.

Leiss later continued working extensively in computer security, including authorization systems, digital signatures, inference control, authentication, viruses and worms, and protection of proprietary software.

Author: Ernst L. Leiss
Title: Principles of Data Security
Series: Foundations of Computer Science
Publisher: Plenum Press, New York and London
Year: 1982
Edition: Original first edition
Format: Hardcover
Pagination: x + 227 pages
ISBN: 0-306-41098-2
LCCN: 82-22272

Condition:
Vintage ex-library hardcover in good used condition. Brown cloth boards show light shelf wear, with an institutional call-number label at the lower front cover. Handwritten library classification appears on the title page. Interior pages appear clean and well preserved, and the binding appears sound. No dust jacket. See photographs for exact condition.