CYBER SECURITY OF OPERATING SYSTEMS (ANALYTICAL AND REVIEW RESEARCH)

Abstract

Cyber security of operating systems (OS) is discussed as a survey research. Since the OS consists of the OS kernel and the basic set of applications, it is about their protection in the process of system operation. However, the organization of effective and reliable OS protection is impossible with the help of software and hardware alone, but requires a whole range of measures. Any computer consists of four main components: the central processor; RAM, which temporarily stores the processed information, program codes and processing results; input/output device, system backbone, which determines the mechanism of interaction of the above components. At the same time, it is difficult to realize all the many actions performed and recorded by the OS, which needs protection from internal and external dangers. There are certain services that provide OS in protected (unprotected) mode. The services provided in these conditions by typical operating systems are formulated, which include the following: program development, program execution, access to input/output devices; controlled access to files; system access; error detection and processing; resource usage accounting; command system structure; application programming interface; and binary program interface. The possibility of access to OS objects is determined not only by the OS architecture, but also by the current security situation of access to the object. It is shown how, in practically significant situations, a secure OS usually contains means of controlling user access to various resources, means of authenticating a user who starts working with the OS, as well as applying means of registering user actions that are potentially dangerous from a security point of view. Consider typical security threats to the OS of a mobile device, which are significantly different from similar threats to the OS of a personal computer or network server. It is stated as a result of the discussion that the main problem of OS security is still the control of access to system resources.