| dc.description.abstract | It has been barely 3 years since our third edition came out, and we are again in need
of a new and improved fourth edition. This quick turnaround of editions of a
successful book like this is indicative of the rapidly changing technology landscape.
We are excited by our growing number of users, and we are indeed indebted to them
by continuously keeping a living promise we first made to our readers in the very
first edition of maintaining the book materials as up to date as possible. In line with
this promise, we have now embarked on this fourth edition. Since our first edition,
we have been bringing to our growing ranks of users not only the concept of a
changing computer network but also the correspondingly evolving repertoire of
security tools, algorithms, and best practices, all mandated by the rapidly changing
technology. The traditional computer network we introduced in the first edition
with its nicely “demarcated” and heavily defended perimeter wall and well-guarded
access points has been going into a transformation as a result of new technologies.
Changes have occurred, as we pointed out in both the second and third editions,
from within and outside the network, at the server, and most importantly at the
boundaries resulting into a virtualized and elastic network, with rapid extensions at
will, to meet the growing needs of users. These changes are driven by new
technological developments and changing user demands and security needs. New
developments in system resource virtualization, the evolving cloud computing
models, and a growing and unpredictable mobile computing technology are creating
new platforms that demand new extensions, usually on the fly and at will, thus
making security of the traditional computer network more complex. | en_US |
