The Virtual Environment

Abstract

In the following chapters we examine a variety of problems related to information security, as they arise in modern computer and communication systems. To deepen your understanding of these problems, we do not merely consider them abstractly. Rather, we additionally provide you with a set of preconfigured virtual machines that allow you to work through the examples actively in a virtual environment.

As a virtualization environment we have chosen VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org). VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux, Macintosh and OpenSolaris hosts, and supports a large number of guest operating systems. By following the instructions below, you should be able to install the virtual machines on your own computer, which you will need to complete the practical experiments in the following chapters. The virtual machines can be downloaded from the book’s web page, www.appliedinfsec.ch.

The structure of this chapter is as follows. We start with a general introduction to VirtualBox and explain its network options. Afterwards we provide information on the virtual machines as they are used for the practical exercises in this book. Besides information on the network setup you will find information on the types of operating systems, installed software, and user accounts in this section. Finally, we provide brief installation instructions for each of the virtual machines used in subsequent chapters.