communication security

Measures that implement and assure security services in a communication system, particularly those that provide data confidentiality and data integrity and that authenticate communicating entities.

Usage: COMSEC is usually understood to include (a) cryptography and its related algorithms and key management methods and processes, devices that implement those algorithms and processes, and the lifecycle management of the devices and keying material. Also, COMSEC is sometimes more broadly understood as further including (b) traffic-flow confidentiality, (c) TRANSEC, and (d) steganography [Kahn]. (See: cryptology, signal security.)