Operating Systems · Security

Protection and security basics

The privilege levels and access checks that keep one process from reading or corrupting another's memory.

Also known as: privilege levels, access control, isolation.

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• System calls and kernel mode: The controlled doorway, a trap into kernel mode, a program uses to ask the OS to do something on its behalf.

Related topics

• Virtual machines and containers: Running an entire guest OS, or a lightweight container, on top of a host OS or hypervisor.