Computer Security: Art and Science

Chapter 28. User Security

	COMINIUS: Away! the tribunes do attend you: arm yourselfTo answer mildly; for they are prepar'dWith accusations, as I hear, more strongThan are upon you yet.
	--Coriolanus, III, ii, 138–141.

Although computer systems provide security mechanisms and policies that can protect users to a great degree, users must also take security precautions for a variety of reasons. First, although system controls limit the access of unauthorized users to the system, such controls often are flawed and may not prevent all such access. Second, someone with access to the system may want to attack an authorized user—for example, by reading confidential or private data or by altering files. The success of such attacks may depend on the victim's ...