Influences and Impacts in Terms of Developing Secure and Trusted Software - Literature review Example

? The advent of information technology opened doors for new developments and electronic revolution. From computers to routers, adapters to operating systems, indeed, the world has finally entered the main ground of the new millennium. One of the most important inventions that science and technology have ever produced is the operating system. The birth of operating systems extensively improved the process of communication, calculation, file storing, etc. Thus, this treatise shall contain an overview and discussion pertaining to the introduction of one of the most reliable and sophisticated operating systems ever developed: Multics. Significantly, more than just the design and aesthetic feature of a certain operating system is the critical role that security in operating systems is playing in ensuring that important data are stored securely. It also serves as an interceptor to potential threats in the Internet. Thus, this treatise will elaborate on the security features of Multics and its relative contributions to the world. Further, in this exposition, we will also explore the history, impacts and the influences of Multics to our modern times and how these interactions resulted in a progressive stint that the world has taken. Multiplexed Information and Computing Service, or most commonly known as Multics, is a "comprehensive, general-purpose programming system which is being developed as a research project" (Corbato & Vyssotsky, 1965). The first Multics system was applied on the GE-645 computer. According to Corbato and Vyssotsky (1965), the prime goal of designing the system was to provide a computing system which has the capability to meet the entire current and future requirements of a large computer utility. In other words, this system must be able to function continuously and reliably even with large amount of data. It was Professor Fernando Corbato from Massachusetts Institute of Technology who spearheaded the development of the system together with his colleagues in 1964. Initially, it was a joint project by MIT led by Professor Corbato, the General Electric and the Bell Laboratories; however, Bell Labs decided to back out leaving GE and Multics behind until it was later conquered by Honeywell. Following Honeywell’s acquisition of GE’s computer business, the prime Multics production machine was Honeywell 6180 mainframe which was widely recognized following 1969. Multics network implementation likewise became one of the pioneering sites after its forerunner, the ARPANET. Two MIT production machines were linked to ARPANET, the MIT 645 and the MIT 6180, which were associated to ARPANET in 1971 and 1973 respectively. The development of Multics gave rise to the development of some other operating systems such as the UNIX. The operating system UNIX was created after Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie employed ideas used to develop Multics. UNIX was finally completed in 1969. But since UNIX was developed using the C language, it became widely popular with colleges and universities worldwide because of its simplicity. In November 1992, the source code of the concluding Multics version, the MR 12.5, was released to the public through MIT. This particular version comprised "5839 files of PL/I code in 337 archives" (Gedda, 2009). The authorization is relatively lenient and gives anybody the "right to use, copy, modify and distribute the code and its documentation for any purpose and without fee" (Gedda, 2009). However, while anyone can be given access and right over the archives, a copyright notice and historical background must be provided to appear in all copies according to Gedda (2009). Multics had manifold elements aimed to bring about great accessibility in order to provide massive support for computing utility comparable to that of telephone and electric services. By adjoining more of the applicable resource such as memory and computing power, the entire system could substantially expand in size. Multics has numerous unique features which distinguish it from the rest. These features were highlighted in the paper written by Professor Corbato and Vyssotsky of Bell Laboratories that pointed toward explaining and providing succinct elaboration on the major parts of the system. Some of these features which will be discussed later are the virtual memory system with segmentation and paging, and the dynamic linking. Multics’ distinctive features benefited one of the most widely used operating systems in the world, UNIX, which adopted Multics’ time sharing design. Further, this implementation has even “blossomed [UNIX] to produce a vibrant ecosystem of proprietary and open source operating systems that are used on millions of computers” (Gedda, 2009). Further, UNIX’s reward for espousing some of Multics’ special elements bloomed as “UNIX variants run on everything from the world’s largest supercomputers to handheld devices like the IPhone and Android” (Gedda, 2009). Influences and Impacts in Terms of Developing Secure and Trusted Software One of the most central issues of an operating system is its security. Multics, like any other operating systems, is not spared from this concern. Previous encounters proved that “privacy and security are sensitive issues in a multi-user system where terminals are anonymously remote” (Corbato & Vyssotsky, 1965). Multics’ security is one of its original prime goals even “from the very beginning of its design” (Corbato & Vyssotsky, 1965). As a matter of fact, in 2002, “Multics offered considerably stronger security than most systems commercially available …” (Karger & Schell, 2002). After the advent of personal computers, developers of operating systems erroneously inferred that security bears not even a small degree of importance on minicomputers. However, when the Internet was introduced, that was the only time when operating system developers realized that single-user computers still need to be installed with security. In the present day, the level of security that most operating systems have does not seem to appear reliable. In addition, “today’s operating systems are not even up to the level of security that Multics offered in the early 1970s” (Karger & Schell, 2002). Although there have been developments on computational grids, Karger and Schell (2002) predicated that this development has emphasized more “authentication and secure communication,” but not securing the host system that entirely provides the utility. Multics has also influenced some famous operating systems. Apart from UNIX, it has also shaped the security features of Amber, the operating system produced by the S-1 project at Livermore between 1979 and 1986 (“What is Multics”, 2012). The most significant of all Multics influences on Amber were “…writing the operating system in a high-level language, the single-level storage system, and an emphasis on security, although rings were not present on the last generation of S-1 machine” (“What is Multics”, 2012). According to Karger and Schell (2002), most of the computer products today no longer espouse many of the Multics security techniques, which should have been regarded as essential. Although there are new cyber threats proliferating in the Internet nowadays, the techniques and the electronic principles used in creating Multics’ security can make up for the susceptibilities on most of our electronic products, especially computers. Multics also influenced GEMSOS, a secure operating system developed by Roger Schell in order to support a “Multics-style segmented environment in a system designed to meet A1 security requirements” (“What is Multics”, 2012). On the whole, Multics influence in modern day trends, particularly in the development of secured and trusted software, is massive and will continue to become the standard of future operating systems. Techniques and Relevance The most known impact of Multics is its influence on UNIX. In developing UNIX, there were various elements of Multics that were imported by UNIX. In this treatise, we will explore the extent as to how much products and operating systems of today rely on Multics’ basic attributes or how similar they would like to become with Multics. How did the objectives of UNIX vary from those of Multics? The general plan of developing UNIX was not bounded by any pre-determined goals. Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie did not set any pre-set objectives from which they would ground the development of their software because for them, it was not planned to accomplish any fixed intents. Let us consider the following: 1. UNIX was designed by the programmers, so the design naturally guided the programmers. Moreover, it has provided the developers with continuing standards that they can utilize to track procedures and progress of the project. As aforementioned, Multics had set its own goals before they started to develop the system. Conversely, UNIX did not import this idea; instead, they allowed the process to flow naturally. 2. Limited sizes on hardware were implemented on UNIX. Unlike Multics which intended to absorb data as large as possible, UNIX set a limit to its hardware components by 64K which gives way for a simpler integration of files, devices, and concepts. 3. The system preserved itself almost right from the outset. Multics was in due course preserved on itself; nevertheless, it commenced with an extremely heavy duty strategy, pattern and engineering endeavour. The Impact of Multics on other operating systems What are the features that UNIX got from MULTICS? There are few features of Multics that were inherited by UNIX. One of them is the shell that performs the commands which turned out to be one of Multics’ biggest influences on many operating systems today. The second would be the concept of hierarchical file system. Lastly, the readwrite-execute permission bits and machine-independent feature of Multics due to the high-level language (PL/I) that the system used to develop itself. What did UNIX throw out from MULTICS? 1. Files give the impression of memory: In its place, “unifying idea is file descriptor and read()/write() memory is a totally separate resource” (Anand, 2011). 2. Dynamic linking: Instead of importing the concept of dynamic linking, stationary linking was more preferred by UNIX; “every binary had copy of libraries” (Anand, 2011). 3. Segments and Sharing: As an alternative, a lone undeviating address space for every progression. Conclusion Although most of us nowadays consider Multics as obsolete, its contributions to the world of science and technology are undeniably enormous. On the whole, one of the most important heritages that Multics passed on to us is its utmost goal to provide secured and trusted operating systems. The number of products designed and developed by importing its unique features paved the way for improving the level of information technology. References Anand, H. S. (2011). Aspects of system administration. Retrieved from http://www.cs.stevens.edu/~jschauma/615/hanand_multics.pdf. Corbato, F. J., & Vyssotsky, V. A. (1965). Introduction and overview of the Multics system. Retrieved from http://www.multicians.org/fjcc1.html. Gedda, R. (2009). Multics helped pioneer the concept of computer time-sharing. Retrieved from http://www.cio.com.au/slideshow/325629/slideshow_cio_blast_from_past_- _40_years_multics/?image=3. Karger, P. A., & Schell, R .R. (2002). Thirty years later: Lessons from the Multics security evaluation. Retrieved from http://www.acsac.org/2002/papers/classic-multics.pdf. Multics. (2012). What is Multics? Retrieved from http://www.multicians.org/general.html#tag13. Read More