security through obscurity
security through obscurity phrase: the habit or practice of relying on a potential attacker's lack of knowledge will maintain security.
Phrase
security through obscurity
- The habit or practice of relying on a potential attacker's lack of knowledge will maintain security.
- This security through obscurity proved adequate for our prototype, but it was unacceptable for a turnin service in wide use.1990, W Cattey, The Evolution of turnin A Classroom Oriented File Exchange Service, USENIX Summer Conference
- According to security-through-obscurity advocates, if we carefully hide our gaping vulnerabilities from our enemies, the bad guys will give up in frustration when they cannot easily find holes.2006, Harold F. Tipton, Micki Krause, Information Security Management Handbook
Forms of security through obscurity
| alternative form | security by obscurity |
|---|---|
| alternative form | security-by-obscurity |
| alternative form | security-through-obscurity |
Questions about security through obscurity
- What does security through obscurity mean?
- Security through obscurity means the habit or practice of relying on a potential attacker's lack of knowledge will maintain security.
- What part of speech is security through obscurity?
- Security through obscurity is a phrase.
Words near security through obscurity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: security through obscurity (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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