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Security Jobs |
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Security is the condition of being protected against danger or
loss. In the general sense, security is a concept similar to
safety. The nuance between the two is an added emphasis on being
protected from dangers that originate from outside. Individuals
or actions that encroach upon the condition of protection are
responsible for the breach of security.
A simple and clear definition of effective security could be:
a secure system is a system which does exactly what we want it
to do and nothing that we don't want it to do even when someone
else tries to make it behave differently.
Another proposed definition:
When our expectations are met, we can say that quality has been
met. When our expectations are met once and again, despite
errors, catastrophes and attacks which in principle could
prevent our expectations to be met, we can say that security has
been met. Security is not falsifiable (Popper). We can prove
that there has been a security failure, but we can't prove that
there hasn't. Security measures improve the likeliness of
expectations to be met, and therefore improve security. With
respect to classified matter there is an expectation of the
classified matter to remain secret for as long as we wish. A
control access system is the security measure that helps this
expectation to be accomplished.
The word "security" in general usage is synonymous with
"safety," but as a technical term "security" means that
something not only is secure but that it has been secured. In
telecommunications, the term security has the following
meanings:
A condition that results from the establishment and maintenance
of protective measures that ensure a state of inviolability from
hostile acts or influences.
With respect to classified matter, the condition that prevents
unauthorized persons from having access to official information
that is safeguarded in the interests of national security.
Measures taken by a military unit, an activity or installation
to protect itself against all acts designed to, or which may,
impair its effectiveness.
Sources: from Federal Standard 1037C and adapted from the
Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated
Terms
Security has to be compared and contrasted with other related
concepts: Safety, continuity, reliability. The key difference
between security and reliability is that security must take into
account the actions of active malicious agents attempting to
cause destruction.
It is very often true that people's perception of security is
not directly related to actual security. For example, a fear of
flying is much more common than a fear of driving; however,
driving is generally a much more dangerous form of transport.
Another side of this is a phenomenon called security theatre
where ineffective security measures such as screening of airline
passengers based on static databases are introduced with little
real increase in security or even, according to the critics of
one such measure - Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening
System - with an actual decrease in real security. |
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