[si-kyoo
r-i-tee] 
noun, plural -ties, adjective | 1. | freedom from danger, risk, etc.; safety. |
| 2. | freedom from care, anxiety, or doubt; well-founded confidence. |
| 3. | something that secures or makes safe; protection; defense. |
| 4. | freedom from financial cares or from want: The insurance policy gave the family security. |
| 5. | precautions taken to guard against crime, attack, sabotage, espionage, etc.: The senator claimed security was lax and potential enemies know our plans. |
| 6. | a department or organization responsible for protection or safety: He called security when he spotted the intruder. |
| 7. | protection or precautions taken against escape; custody: The dangerous criminal was placed under maximum security. |
| 8. | an assurance; guarantee. |
| 9. | Law.
|
| 10. | an evidence of debt or of property, as a bond or a certificate of stock. |
| 11. | Usually, securities. stocks and bonds. |
| 12. | Archaic. overconfidence; cockiness. |
| 13. | of, pertaining to, or serving as security: The company has instituted stricter security measures. |
| se·cu·ri·ty (sĭ-kyŏŏr'ĭ-tē) n. pl. se·cu·ri·ties
[Middle English securite, from Old French, from Latin sēcūritās, from sēcūrus, secure; see secure.] |
Security
An instrument representing ownership (stocks), a debt agreement (bonds), or the rights to ownership (derivatives).
Investopedia Commentary
A security is essentially a contract that can be assigned a value and traded.
Examples of a security include a note, stock, preferred share, bond, debenture, option, future, swap, right, warrant, or virtually any other financial asset.
Related Links
Stock Basics Tutorial
Bond Basics Tutorial
Mutual Fund Basics Tutorial
How Does Someone Actually Transact Securities?
See also: Blue Chip, Corporation, Earnings, Equity, Penny Stock, Shareholder, Shares, Stock
Also spelled: securities
security
An instrument that, for a stock, shows ownership in a firm; for a bond, indicates a creditor relationship with a firm or with a federal, state, or local government; or signifies other rights to ownership.
Collateral used to guarantee repayment of a debt.
security security
Protection against unauthorized access to, or alteration of, information and system resources including CPUs, storage devices and programs.
Security includes:
* confidentiality - preventing unauthorized access; integrity - preventing or detecting unauthorized modification of information.
* authentication - determining whether a user is who they claim to be.
* access control - ensuring that users can access the resources, and only the resources, that they are authorised to.
* nonrepudiation - proof that a message came from a certain source.
* availability - ensuring that a system is operational and accessible to authorised users despite hardware or software failures or attack.
* privacy - allowing people to know and control how information is collected about them and how it is used.
Security can also be considered in the following terms:
* physical security - who can touch the system to operate or modify it, protection against the physical environment - heat, earthquake, etc.
* operational/procedural security - who is authorised to do or responsible for doing what and when, who can authorise others to do what and who has to report what to who.
* personnel security - hiring employees, background screening, training, security briefings, monitoring and handling departures.
* System security - User access and authentication controls, assignment of privilege, maintaining file and filesystem integrity, backup, monitoring processes, log-keeping, and auditing.
* network security - protecting network and telecommunications equipment, protecting network servers and transmissions, combatting eavesdropping, controlling access from untrusted networks, firewalls, and intrusion detection.
Encryption is one important technique used to improve data security.
OWASP is the free and open application security community.
(2007-10-05)
security
In addition to the idiom beginning with security, also see lull into (false sense of security).