Computer security

:This article describes how security can be achieved through design and engineering. Please see the computer insecurity article for an alternative approach that describes the current battlefield of computer security exploits and defenses.

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Computer security is a field of computer science concerned with the control of risks related to computer use.

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The means traditionally taken to realize this objective is to attempt to create a secure computing platform, designed so that agents (users or programs) can only perform actions that have been allowed. This involves specifying and implementing a security policy. The actions in question can be reduced to operations of access, modification and deletion. Computer security can be seen as a subfield of security engineering, which looks at broader security issues in addition to computer security.

Related Topics:
Action - Security policy - Security engineering

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In a secure system the legitimate users of that system are still able to do what they should be able to do. While one might be able to secure a computer beyond misuse using extreme measures (locked in a vault without any means of power or communication for example), this would not be regarded as a useful secure system because of the above requirement.

Related Topics:
Power - Communication

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It is important to distinguish the techniques employed to increase a system's security from the issue of that system's security status. In particular, systems which contain fundamental flaws in their security designs cannot be made secure without compromising their utility. Consequently, most computer systems cannot be made secure even after the application of extensive "computer security" measures.

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