Computer security software

Computer security software or cybersecurity software is any computer program designed to influence information security. This is often taken in the context of defending computer systems or data, yet can incorporate programs designed specifically for subverting computer systems due to their significant overlap, and the adage that the best defense is a good offense.

The defense of computers against intrusion and unauthorized use of resources is called computer security. Similarly, the defense of computer networks is called network security.

The subversion of computers or their unauthorized use is referred to using the terms cyberwarfare, cybercrime, or security hacking (later shortened to hacking for further references in this article due to issues with hacker, hacker culture and differences in white/grey/black 'hat' color identification).

The computer security software products industry was launched in the second half of the 1970s when computer firms and new IT startups chose alternative paths to offer commercial access control systems to organizational mainframe computer users. These developments were led by IBM's Resource Access Control Facility and SKK's Access Control Facility 2.[1]

  1. ^ Yost, Jeffrey R. (2015). "The Origin and Early History of the Computer Security Software Products Industry". IEEE Annals of the History of Computing. 37 (2): 46–58. doi:10.1109/MAHC.2015.21. Retrieved 2023-12-13.