Puzzle of the Day
A hypothetical computer science department
provides a Hypothetical Computer Science Instructional Facility.
Students do their homework on the HCSIF computers. Suppose a student in
a beginning programming class writes a program but fails to use the
protection mechanisms to prevent others from reading it. A second
student reads the first student's program.
- If the security policy of the HCSIF says
that students are not allowed to read homework-related files from other
students, has the second student violated security? Has the first?
- If the first student had used the protection
mechanisms to prevent other students from reading the file, but the
second student figured out a way to read the file, would your answer to
part 1 change? If so, how?
- If the first student told the second student
to "feel free to look at my answer, just don't copy it," would
your answer to part 1 change? If so, how?
Send email to
[email protected].
Department of Computer Science
University of California at Davis
Davis, CA 95616-8562
Page last modified on 10/1/99