DOCSLIB.ORG

The Multics System, 1975

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Multics System, 1975 Honeywell The Multics System O 1975,1976,Honeywell Information Systems Inc. File No.:lLll - -- - ecure A Unique Business Problem-SolvingTool Here is a computer techniques are available to system that enables data all users automatically processing users to control through the Multics operating and distribute easily accessi- supervisor. ble computer power. The Because it is a unique Honeywell Multics System combination of advanced represents an advanced computing theory and out- approach to making the com- standing computer hardware, puter an integral, thoroughly Multics can provide an infor- reliable part of a company's mation service system more operation. advanced than any other yet The Multics System available. replaces many of the proce- Honeywell offers, as dures limiting conventional part of its advanced Series 60 systems and sweeps away line, two models for Multics - many of the factors that have the Model 68/60 and the restricted the application of Model 68/80. computers to routine data While contributing sig- processing assignments. nificantly to the application Now-with Multics - diversity of the Series 60 the computer becomes a family, these Multics systems responsive tool for solving also enable Honeywell to challenging business accommodate more efficiently problems. the computing needs of The Multics System today's businesses. incorporates many of the most user-oriented program- ming and supervisory tech- niques yet devised. These Multics is Transaction Processing -and More Although Multics is by Ease of accessibility, design a transaction oriented, featuring a simple and con- interactive information sys- sistent user interface for all tem, its functional capability types of services. There is no encompasses the full spec- job control or command trum of a general purpose language to learn and an computer. Multics provides interactive tutorial facility is you with: available when needed. A wide range of services System management including transaction process- and control by a decentral- ing, interactive program ized concept. This includes development, time sharing the delegation of capabilities and batch processing, both for establishing resource and local and remote. usage quotas dynamically High volume capacity and adjusting resources as via multiprogramming and necessary - all online. multiprocessing with large, Data and moaram real memory capacity and integrity, as one of the funda- practically limitless virtual mental features of Multics. memory Unique multiple level security Very high systems capabilities are provided. availability via the dynamic Access to all procedures reconfiguration of processors and data is controlled by and memories. Multics also permission lists, which are provides the capabilities for managed by software and online software updating, enforced by hardware. online accounting and management as well as auto- matic file backup facilities. Computer Power That's Easy to Use Multics is easily needs of both large and small accessed through a conven- users, within wide limits and ient remote terminal. Because on demand. Multics was designed as a Bills each user only for complete remote access the amount of service received. system, it allows interactive Enables the manager to access to all system facilities. reconf igure hardware without As a powerful and service interruption in order to easily accessible system, handle peak workloads and Multics: maintain the system. Provides vastly improved Provides a highly reliable application designs and pro- system that offers maximum grammer productivity via a availability. wide range of interactive Computer users and programming languages experts have long felt that including PLII, COBOL, just such a system would be FORTRAN, BASIC and APL. the only way that computers All have powerful interactive could adequately serve the debugging aids. growing needs of business, Brings its users advanced science, education, and capabilities without the need government. After many years to know the detailed and of development and refine- evolving technology that ment, this idea has been makes the advances possible. implemented in the Multics Provides the required System. degree of service to meet the Consider some addi- tional benefits that make Multics as powerful as it is manageable, as accessible as it is secure, as advanced as it is operational. Security and Privacy Today there is a growing concern about the privacy of computer-based information. The Multics System incor- porates the most advanced security features (both hard- ware and software) available. A manager of Multics can control and specify the type of access for each user. With a simple command, a file is made available for read- ing only, for execution, or for full access. File access is then enforced by the Multics ring structure hardware,an advanced form of protection that enhances file access control. The ring structure protects against intentional access by unauthorized personnel-and from unin- tentional access during debugging periods. The structure allows both the system and users multiple levels of access control. A personnel depart- Clearly, more than one ment might, for example, level of access is needed create individual files for all here. An authorized member employees including informa- of the personnel department tion on educational back- uses an interactive terminal to ground, professional qualifi- set the various access privi- cations, job classification, job leges for potential users of the experience, salary. Personnel information. Direct read and realizes that the data for each write permissions can be employee is sensitive and granted to authorized per- wants to restrict access of sonnel, while others can any individual file to author- access the data only through ized employees only. special summarization pro- On the other hand, various grams that do not reveal administrative and personnel individual records. Further- development groups want more, these special programs access to information such can be used, but not altered, as the overall educational without additional authorization. level of company employees Individual privacy is or the total salary figure. protected by software and hardware implementation of the controls that were pre- selected, while general infor- mation still can be used effectively by various parts of the company. - Multics User Dynamic I- Interface Reconf iguration of Hardware Modules The command lan- Dynamic reconfigura- guage that converses with tion lets the manager of the the computer is simple and Multics System add hardware easy to use. Tasks are modules to the system to described in straight-forward meet peak workloads, and terms. If the system needs remove modules for preven- more information, a compu- tive maintenance while provid- ter routine asks for it in ing uninterrupted service. ordinary English. The Multics System is For advanced pro- designed to evolve with the grammers, Multics provides needs of its users. Additional language processors for PLII, hardware modules can be FORTRAN, BASIC, COBOL, added to the system as user and APL, for maximum effi- demand increases. Multics ciency no matter what the can support one or more application. processors, memory modules, Simple as well as and secondary storage units sophisticated text editors without change to the system provide for efficient, conver- software. sational correction and modi- Hardware modularity fication of online data. also encourages technologi- Most important, users cal advancement. When don't have to be experts to improvements are made to use the system effectively any of the modules, the new and profitably. module may be substituted for the old without replacing the entire system or converting user programs. Multics Virtual Memory Multics virtual memory The actual movement allows the controlled sharing of this information from the of information among the main memory back and forth system's users and provides to secondary storage is com- for more efficient use of the pletely automatic. Programs resources available. and data are transferred The virtual memory and (or "paged") through main access control mechanisms of memory. Only the currently Multics make it possible to active "pages1'need to be in share programs and data by main memory, with the Multics organizing information into System fetching additional segments. "pages" as required. The segment is the The majority of seg- basic unit of information ments on the system (for sharing; it can contain pro- example, the operating super- grams or data, or it can be a visor, compilers, library directory cataloging other routines, and user procedure segments. Segments and segments) are pure pro- their directories are organized cedure (instructions and into a single tree-structured constants). Only one copy of hierarchy, which stores the a pure procedure segment system software, the adminis- is needed in main memory, trative and accounting infor- no matter how many users mation, and user data and are executing it. With only one programs. copy required, the amount of data transfer is greatly reduced and main memory is more efficiently utilized. User Multics- Productivity Is It for You? The easy access of the The Honeywell Multics Multics System is designed to System can help you improve increase productivity. The information management and system makes advanced pro- apply new and advanced gramming and supervisory techniques to your business. techniques available to all Multics makes online trans- users automatically through
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Multics Security Evaluation: Vulnerability Analysis*
    * Multics Security Evaluation: Vulnerability Analysis Paul A. Karger, 2Lt, USAF Roger R. Schell, Maj, USAF Deputy for Command and Management Systems (MCI), HQ Electronic Systems Division Hanscom AFB, MA 01730 ABSTRACT operational requirements cannot be met by dedicated sys- A security evaluation of Multics for potential use as a tems because of the lack of information sharing. It has two-level (Secret / Top Secret) system in the Air Force been estimated by the Electronic Systems Division (ESD) Data Services Center (AFDSC) is presented. An overview sponsored Computer Security Technology Panel [10] that is provided of the present implementation of the Multics these additional costs may amount to $100,000,000 per Security controls. The report then details the results of a year for the Air Force alone. penetration exercise of Multics on the HIS 645 computer. In addition, preliminary results of a penetration exercise 1.2 Requirement for Multics Security of Multics on the new HIS 6180 computer are presented. Evaluation The report concludes that Multics as implemented today is not certifiably secure and cannot be used in an open This evaluation of the security of the Multics system use multi-level system. However, the Multics security was performed under Project 6917, Program Element design principles are significantly better than other con- 64708F to meet requirements of the Air Force Data Ser- temporary systems. Thus, Multics as implemented today, vices Center (AFDSC). AFDSC must provide responsive can be used in a benign Secret / Top Secret environment. interactive time-shared computer services to users within In addition, Multics forms a base from which a certifiably the Pentagon at all classification levels from unclassified to secure open use multi-level system can be developed.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards Comprehensible and Effective Permission Systems
    Towards Comprehensible and Effective Permission Systems Adrienne Porter Felt Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences University of California at Berkeley Technical Report No. UCB/EECS-2012-185 http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Pubs/TechRpts/2012/EECS-2012-185.html August 9, 2012 Copyright © 2012, by the author(s). All rights reserved. Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission. Towards Comprehensible and Effective Permission Systems by Adrienne Porter Felt A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science in the GRADUATE DIVISION of the UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Committee in charge: Professor David Wagner, Chair Professor Vern Paxson Professor Tapan Parikh Fall 2012 Towards Comprehensible and Effective Permission Systems Copyright c 2012 by Adrienne Porter Felt Abstract Towards Comprehensible and Effective Permission Systems by Adrienne Porter Felt Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science University of California, Berkeley Professor David Wagner, Chair How can we, as platform designers, protect computer users from the threats associated with ma- licious, privacy-invasive, and vulnerable applications? Modern platforms have turned away from the traditional user-based permission model and begun adopting application permission systems in an attempt to shield users from these threats. This dissertation evaluates modern permission systems with the goal of improving the security of future platforms.
    [Show full text]
  • US Department of the Interior Geological Survey Mail Stop 964 Box 25046, Federal Center'denver, Colorado 80225
    U.S. Department of the Interior Geological Survey Mail Stop 964 Box 25046, Federal Center 'Denver, Colorado 80225 Program MARQDCLAG: Marquardt inversion of DC-Schlumberger soundings by lagged-convolution by Walter L. Anderson Open-File Report 79-1432 1979 Multics Documentation Page 2 Program MARQDCLAG CONTENTS DISCLAIMER 3 INTRODUCTION * 4 PARAMETERS AND DATA REQUIRED 5 PROGRAM FILES 5 DETAIL PARAMETER AND DATA DEFINITIONS 6 $parras parameters 6 $init parameters 10 DATA MATRIX NOTES 11 EXAMPLES OF INPUT PARAMETERS AND DATA ORDERING 11 SPECIAL OBJECT FORMAT PHRASES 12 MULTICS OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS 12 ERROR MESSAGES 13 PRINTED RESULTS ]4 REFERENCES 16 Appendix 1.-- Source listing 17 Source availability 17 Appendix 2.-- Conversion to other systems 53 Appendix 3.-- Test problem input/output listing 54 Multics Documentation Page 3 Program MARQDCLAG DISCLAIMER This program was written in Fortran IV for a Honeywell Multics 68/80 system*. Although program tests have been made, no guarantee (expressed or implied) is made by the author regarding accuracy or proper functioning of this program on all computer systems. * Brand or manufacturers' names used in this report are for descriptive purposes only and do not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Geological Survey. Multics Documentation Page 4 Program MARQDCLAG By Walter L. Anderson INTRODUCTION Program MARQDCLAG is a general-purpose program for the least squares inversion of direct-current (DC) Schlumberger sounding data obtained over one-dimensional horizontally stratified earth models. A modified Marquardt (1963) nonlinear least squares algorithm (MARQRT) is used for inversion of Schlumberger soundings. A digital filter developed by Anderson (1975) is employed, along with a fast lagged-convolution adaptive algorithm (RLAGH1), to efficiently and accurately evaluate the necessary Hankel transform integrals for a Schlumberger array configuration (see for example, Zohdy, 1975, p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Evolution of the Unix Time-Sharing System*
    The Evolution of the Unix Time-sharing System* Dennis M. Ritchie Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, 07974 ABSTRACT This paper presents a brief history of the early development of the Unix operating system. It concentrates on the evolution of the file system, the process-control mechanism, and the idea of pipelined commands. Some attention is paid to social conditions during the development of the system. NOTE: *This paper was first presented at the Language Design and Programming Methodology conference at Sydney, Australia, September 1979. The conference proceedings were published as Lecture Notes in Computer Science #79: Language Design and Programming Methodology, Springer-Verlag, 1980. This rendition is based on a reprinted version appearing in AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal 63 No. 6 Part 2, October 1984, pp. 1577-93. Introduction During the past few years, the Unix operating system has come into wide use, so wide that its very name has become a trademark of Bell Laboratories. Its important characteristics have become known to many people. It has suffered much rewriting and tinkering since the first publication describing it in 1974 [1], but few fundamental changes. However, Unix was born in 1969 not 1974, and the account of its development makes a little-known and perhaps instructive story. This paper presents a technical and social history of the evolution of the system. Origins For computer science at Bell Laboratories, the period 1968-1969 was somewhat unsettled. The main reason for this was the slow, though clearly inevitable, withdrawal of the Labs from the Multics project. To the Labs computing community as a whole, the problem was the increasing obviousness of the failure of Multics to deliver promptly any sort of usable system, let alone the panacea envisioned earlier.
    [Show full text]
  • Lessons from the Multics Security Evaluation
    Thirty Years Later: Lessons from the Multics Security Evaluation Paul A. Karger Roger R. Schell IBM Corp., T. J. Watson Research Center Aesec Corporation Yorktown Heights, NY 10598 Pacific Grove, CA 93950 [email protected] [email protected] ABSTRACT 2 Multics Security Compared to Now Almost thirty years ago a vulnerability assessment of Multics offered considerably stronger security than Multics identified significant vulnerabilities, despite the most systems commercially available today. What factors fact that Multics was more secure than other contempo- contributed to this? rary (and current) computer systems. Considerably more important than any of the individual design and imple- mentation flaws was the demonstration of subversion of 2.1 Security as a Primary Original Goal the protection mechanism using malicious software (e.g., Multics had a primary goal of security from the very trap doors and Trojan horses). A series of enhancements beginning of its design [16, 18]. Multics was originally were suggested that enabled Multics to serve in a rela- conceived in 1965 as a computer utility – a large server tively benign environment. These included addition of system on which many different users might process data. “Mandatory Access Controls” and these enhancements This requirement was based on experience from develop- were greatly enabled by the fact the Multics was designed ing and running the CTSS time sharing system at MIT. from the start for security. However, the bottom-line con- The users might well have conflicting interests and there- clusion was that “restructuring is essential” around a fore a need to be protected from each other – a need quite verifiable “security kernel” before using Multics (or any like that faced today by a typical Application Service Pro- other system) in an open environment (as in today’s vider (ASP) or Storage Service Provider (SSP).
    [Show full text]
  • Coecim\F 11 -~ 12 655 33'4 31 331/.- 1/2
    NOVEMBER 3, 1980 111\'2-1 6 18 323,i, 32'" 32118-:je an Gas 1.96 8 69 20 19~, 1934- 'I. l..opeIIICI .I" "U1 ''I FIlIPwI' :£.411 I 1/, JU'/2 '1'1\'2 XJU'II­ 5 88 15 14'A1 14'h ...... CinciMH .90 8 252 28 2634 27~-1:tt Ccpwld 1.28 I 2 18'12 18'12- '4 E FllP\..it 2.08 6 334 26~ 2614 26'12- =III 6 175 351f2 341J. 3511. ...... or Fill 2.40 7 129 29~ r29 29~- lie Corckwa .30 10 320 4 3la- ',II ESystm 1.20 22'frt- ~ F1aStei UO 6 11 15 243J& 25 - '4 .U 1434- =III ... 227 27=111 26~ 27 ...... Citicorp 1.16 72898 25'1. 23=111 p24la- ~ Corelnd EaglePc .76 AIor 1.20 8 267 35'" 34'4 3434- ~ CornG 1.688 ~-'I. .... 5 48¥e 48la 48?'e+!fa CitiesSy 3.20 7 318 54 53 531f.- J',~ 54'4+13Jo Easco 1.10 191f2- I~ FMC 1.20 6 269 24 221h p23¥a+ 'AI Corcrill 1.24 213J&-134 13 282 10'/. r8¥a 10 + 'I. CitytnYest 1 31056 I~ J21,'.1 gl~+ "It Eastern Air p91f2+ ~ FMCpf 2'4 .... 134 34 34 ...... 8 63 22lh r2J11. 21'4-1=111 City Illy wts .... 326 Pie 1 Pie ...... ~-'!iI EasApf 2.69 233Jo ..... FooteC UO 6 56 19=111 18'" 18'1.-1 10 392 13 12'4 12~- I/a City lily pf 2 .... 110 22lh r21 22lh- 34 ~C~~ 17!M1- 'I. EastGsF .80 13:tt ...
    [Show full text]
  • Al39-01C Contents
    HONEYWELL DPS/LEVEL 68 & DPS 8M MULTICS PROCESSOR MANUAL HARDWARE PREFACE This manual describes the processors used in the Multics system. These are the DPS/L68, which refers to the DPS, L68 or older model processors (excluding the GE-645) and DPS 8M, which refers to the DPS 8 family of Multics processors, i.e. DPS 8/70M, DPS 8/62M and DPS 8/52M. The reader should be familiar with the overall modular organization of the Multics system and with the philosophy of asynchronous operation. In addition, this manual presents a discussion of virtual memory addressing concepts including segmentation and paging. The manual is intended for use by systems programmers responsible for writing software to interface with the virtual memory hardware and with the fault and interrupt portions of the hardware. It should also prove valuable to programmers who must use machine instructions (particularly language translator implementors) and to those persons responsible for analyzing crash conditions in system dumps. This manual includes the processor capabilities, modes of operation, functions, and detailed descriptions of machine instructions. Data representation, program-addressable registers, addressing by means of segmentation and paging, faults and interrupts, hardware ring implementation, and cache operation are also covered. The information and specifications in this document are subject to change without notice. Consult your Honeywell Marketing Representative for product or service availability. 11/85 ©Honeywell Information Systems Inc., 1985 File No.:
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction and Overview of the Multics System Page1
    Introduction and Overview of the Multics System Page1 Introduction and Overview of the Multics System F. J. Corbató Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts and V. A. Vyssotsky Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. Murray Hill, New Jersey Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) is a comprehensive, general-purpose programming system which is being developed as a research project. The initial Multics system will be implemented on the GE 645 computer. One of the overall design goals is to create a computing system which is capable of meeting almost all of the present and near-future requirements of a large computer utility. Such systems must run continuously and reliably 7 days a week, 24 hours a day in a way similar to telephone or power systems, and must be capable of meeting wide service demands: from multiple man-machine interaction to the sequential processing of absentee-user jobs; from the use of the system with dedicated languages and subsystems to the programming of the system itself; and from centralized bulk card, tape, and printer facilities to remotely located terminals. Such information processing and communication systems are believed to be essential for the future growth of computer use in business, in industry, in government and in scientific laboratories as well as stimulating applications which would be otherwise undone. Because the system must ultimately be comprehensive and able to adapt to unknown future requirements, its framework must be general, and capable of evolving with time. As brought out in the companion papers[1-5], this need for an evolutionary framework influences and contributes to much of the system design and is a major reason why most of the programming of the system will be done in the PL/I language.[6] Because the PL/I language is largely machine-independent (e.g.
    [Show full text]
  • Virtual Memory, Processes, and Sharing in MULTICS
    67. Proc. AFIPS 1966 Spring Joint Cornpnt. Conf., Vol. 28. 16. LONERGAN,W., AND KING, P. Design of the B5000 system. Spartan Books, New York, pp. 61-78. Datamation 7, 5 (1961) 28-32. 10. GL<SER, E. L., COULEUn, J. F., AND OLIVER, G. A. System 17. MAcKENzIE, F.B. Automated secondary storage manage- design of a computer for time-sharing applications. Proc. men~. Datamation 11, 11 (1965) 24 28. AFIPS 1965 Fall Joint Comput. Conf., Vol. 27, Part 1. 18. McCuLLOUGH,J. D., SPEIERMAN~K. H., AND ZURCHER, F. W. Spartan Books, New York, pp. 197-202. A design for a multiple user multiprocessing system. Proc. 11. GLUCK, S. E. Impact of scratehpad memories in design: AFIPS 1965 Fall Joint Comput. Conf., Vol. 27, Part 1. multifunctional scratchpad memories in the Burroughs Spartan Books, New York, pp. 611-617. B8500. Proc. AFIPS, 1965 Fall Joint Comput. Conf. Vol. 19. McGEe, W.C. On dynamic program relocation. IBM Syst. J. 27, Part 1. Spartan Books, New York, pp. 661-666. 4, 3 (1965) 184-199. 12. HOLT, A. W Program organization and record keeping for 20. O'NEILL, R.W. Experience using a time-sharing multipro- dynamic storage allocation. Comm. ACM 4, 10 (Oct. 1961), gramming system with dynamic address relocation hard- 422-431. ware. Proc. AFIPS 1967 Spring Joint Comput. Conf., Vol° 13. ILIFFE, J. K., AND JODEIT, J. G. A dynamic storage alloca- 30. Thompson Books, Washington, D. C. pp. 611-621. tion scheme. Comput. J. 5, 3 (1962) 200-209. 21. YYSSOTSKY, V. A., ConnATO, F.
    [Show full text]
  • Multics—The First Seven *
    Multics—The first seven * by F. J. CORBATO and J. H. SALTZER Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, Massachusetts and C. T. CLINGEN Honeywell Information Systems Inc. Cambridge, Massachusetts INTRODUCTION feel to be of special interest. We do not attempt detailed discussion of the organization of Multics; that is the In 1964, following implementation of the Compatible purpose of specialized technical books and papers.* Time-Sharing System (CTSS)1-2 serious planning began on the development of a new computer system specifi­ cally organized as a prototype of a computer utility. The GOALS plans and aspirations for this system, called Multics (for Multiplexed Information and Computing Service), The goals of the computer utility, although stated at were described in a set of six papers presented at the length in the 1965 papers, deserve a brief review. By a 1965 Fall Joint Computer Conference.3-8 The develop­ computer utility it was meant that one had a com­ ment of the system was undertaken as a cooperative ef­ munity computer facility with: fort involving the Bell Telephone Laboratories (from 1965 to 1969), the computer department of the General (1) Convenient remote terminal access as the normal Electric Company,* and Project MAC of M.I.T. mode of system usage; Implicit in the 1965 papers was the expectation that (2) A view of continuous operation analogous to that there should be a later examination of the development of the electric power and telephone companies; effort. From the present vantage point, however, it is (3) A wide range of capacity to allow growth or clear that a definitive examination cannot be presented contraction without either system or user re­ in a single paper.
    [Show full text]
  • An Interview With
    An Interview with W. EARL BOEBERT OH 460 Conducted by Jeffrey R. Yost on 28 April 2015 Computer Security History Project Albuquerque, New Mexico Charles Babbage Institute Center for the History of Information Technology University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Copyright, Charles Babbage Institute W. Earl Boebert Interview 28 April 2015 Oral History 460 Abstract Computer security pioneer Earl Boebert discusses his education at Stanford University before the bulk of the interview focuses on his work within the Air Force and at Honeywell. Among the topics he discusses are the Air Force Undergraduate Navigator Training System, efforts to save and market Multics (and the inherent challenges given GE’s existing systems and the economics of the mainframe business), PSOS, Sidewinder, the formation of Secure Computing Corporation. Also discussed is his role in the broader computer security research community including serving on many National Research Council committees, including the one producing the influential 1991 Computers at Risk. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1116862, “Building an Infrastructure for Computer Security History.” 2 Yost: My name is Jeffrey Yost from the Charles Babbage Institute at the University of Minnesota, and I’m here this afternoon on April 28, 2015 with Earl Boebert in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is for CBI’s NSF-funded study “Building an Infrastructure for Computer Security History.” Earl, can you begin by just giving me some basic biographical information, where and when you were born? Boebert: I was born in Elko, Nevada in 1939. My father was a railroad policeman. I’m an only child.
    [Show full text]
  • The Legacy of Multics and Secure Operating Systems Today
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Publications and Research Queensborough Community College 2018 The Legacy of Multics and Secure Operating Systems Today John Schriner CUNY Queensborough Community College How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/qb_pubs/44 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Schriner 1 John Schriner The Legacy of Multics and Secure Operating Systems Today Part 1: Timeline The idea of the secure modern operating system began with Multics in 1963. “For secure operating systems, the ideas of reference monitor, protection systems, protection domain transitions, and multilevel security policies” (Jaeger, 2008, p. 23) and other security concepts we take for granted, began with the developers of Multics. It was a revolution, as it was a timesharing system—as opposed to the batch systems that would process jobs in sequence, one at a time. Multics was “designed from the start for security” and “more secure than other contemporary (and current) computer systems” (Karger & Schell, 2002). This paper aims to look at modern “reasonably secure” operating systems in light of the legacy of Multics and the research along the way. Multics was unique in that “information protection has been permitted to influence the entire system design” (Saltzer, 1974). Saltzer provided five principles inherent in Multics: the default situation should be lack of access; there should be regular audits that maintain current authority; the design should be open and collaboration should be supported by peer review; it should incorporate the principle of least privilege; and lastly there should be ease of use so that the user doesn't have to think about the underlying design (Saltzer, 1974).
    [Show full text]