Data Protection and Security

VI

Operating System Security and Secure Programming

VI.II

Operating System Security

Microkernel vs. Monolithic Systems:

Most operating systems are monolithic, that is the whole operating system is a single a.out file that runs in “kernel mode”. The alternative is a microkernel-based system, in which most of the OS runs as separate processes, mostly outside the kernel. They communicate by message passing.

Reference: The Tanenbaum-Torvalds Debate

VI.II.I Q