Information Security: Principles and Practices 2nd Edition by Jim Breithaupt, Mark S. Merkow

Exercise 7

Avoiding Security Through Obscurity

Why is security through obscurity a bad idea to the overall security of a system?

Step 1 of 2

Security through Obscurity

Security through obscurity implies hiding the security mechanism with the view to secure the system. It is believed that if the security of the system is kept as a secret, then, the hackers will not be able to break the security.

However, this belief turns out to be inappropriate as it creates security in a false sense. Security through obscurity is a bad idea towards the security of the system. Hiding the overall security mechanism of the system is a dangerous thing. This is because if one person gets to know the manner in which the security mechanism operates, the entire system falls.