defense in depth

term

securitygovernance & risk

Layering multiple independent controls so that if one fails, others still stand.

Defense in depth assumes any single control can be bypassed, so it stacks them, network, host, application, identity, forcing an attacker to defeat several in a row. No layer is perfect; the strength is in the overlap.

Also known as: defense-in-depth, defence in depth, layered security

All glossary entries