Security Through Obscurity (STO)

STO is based on the idea that any information system is secure as long as security vulnerabilities remain hidden, making it less likely that they will be exploited by a malicious attacker. Obscurity means keeping the underlying system’s security loopholes a secret to all but the most important stakeholders, such as key developers, designers, project managers or owners. Typically, a hacker’s approach in exploiting a system begins with identifying its known vulnerabilities. If there is no public information on those weak areas, hackers will find the system more difficult to penetrate and will eventually delay or postpone its malicious objective.