Confer co-authors security book with alum

Exploring SE for Android, a book co-authored by William “Amos” Confer, assistant professor of computer and information sciences, and William Roberts, an alumnus with a master of science in computer science, has been published by PACKT publishing, Birmingham, U.K. The book is available at https://www.packtpub.com/networking-and-servers/exploring-se-android. “Our book not only introduces the reader to the Security Enhancements (SE) for Android open-source project, it walks through the process of securing new embedded systems with SE for Android. To our knowledge, this book is the first source to document such a process in its entirety, so that students, DIY hobbyists, and engineers of emerging areas where Android is seeing growth can produce products secured by SE for Android,” Confer says. “Traditionally, only OEMs such as Samsung or Cisco can do this, and most commonly, the target device is a phone or tablet. We hope our book will change that, engaging a very wide audience in developing and understanding modern security tools.”

Confer’s co-author, William Roberts G’11, is a founding engineer for Samsung’s KNOX Android security product and a security consultant for companies including Intel. Confer says the book not only introduces the reader to the Security Enhancements (SE) for Android open-source project, it walks through the process of securing new embedded systems with SE for Android. It’s the first source to document such a process in its entirety, so that students, DIY hobbyists, and engineers of emerging areas where Android is seeing growth can produce products secured by SE for Android.

“Traditionally, only OEMs such as Samsung or Cisco can do this, and most commonly, the target device is a phone or tablet,” Confer says. “We hope our book will change that, engaging a very wide audience in developing and understanding modern security tools. We worked very hard to ensure this text is not just another step-by-step technology book, though. In fact, it was my co-author’s idea to model the book after the way I teach many of my courses, directing the reader to fail their way to success. We first give them the appropriate theoretical understanding of how security is gained and enforced, then throw a system at them that has never been secured that way (not even by us prior to writing the book).  We then guide the reader through all our intelligent guesswork, embracing unexpected failures for the newly found idiosyncrasies they expose, and eventually enforcing our custom security policies.”

“Writing the book has been a real joy, not only because I can bring one of my favorite classroom techniques to a larger audience, but also because it allowed me to deepen a relationship with an alum.”