Page 548 - (ISC)² CISSP Certified Information Systems Security Professional Official Study Guide

Assess and Mitigate Security Vulnerabilities

Computer architecture is an engineering discipline concerned with the
design and construction of computing systems at a logical level. Many
college-level computer engineering and computer science programs

find it difficult to cover all the basic principles of computer
architecture in a single semester, so this material is often divided into
two one-semester courses for undergraduates. Computer architecture
courses delve into the design of central processing unit (CPU)
components, memory devices, device communications, and similar

topics at the bit level, defining processing paths for individual logic
devices that make simple “0 or 1” decisions. Most security
professionals do not need that level of knowledge, which is well
beyond the scope of this book and the CISSP exam. However, if you
will be involved in the security aspects of the design of computing
systems at this level, you would be well advised to conduct a more
thorough study of this field.

This initial discussion of computer architecture may seem at first to be
irrelevant to CISSP, but most of the security architectures and design
elements are based on a solid understanding and implementation of
computer hardware.

The more complex a system, the less assurance it provides.

More complexity means that more areas for vulnerabilities exist
and more areas must be secured against threats. More
vulnerabilities and more threats mean that the subsequent security
provided by the system is less trustworthy.

Hardware

Any computing professional is familiar with the concept of hardware.
As in the construction industry, hardware is the physical “stuff” that
makes up a computer. The term hardware encompasses any tangible
part of a computer that you can actually reach out and touch, from the