Security in Computing, Third Edition

8.1. Security Planning

Years ago, when most computing was done on mainframe computers, data processing centers were responsible for protection. Responsibility for security rested neither with the programmers nor the users but instead with the computing centers themselves. These centers developed expertise in security, and they implemented many protection activities in the background, without users having to be conscious of protection needs and practices.

Since the early 1980s, the introduction of personal computers and the general ubiquity of computing have changed the way many of us work and interact with computers. In particular, a significant amount of the responsibility for security has shifted to the user and away from the computing center. ...