| Security Education Companion Skip to main content
 
Security Education Companion
A free resource for digital security educators

Capability

The capability of an attacker (in the sense we use it in this guide) is what it is able to do to achieve its aims. For example, a country's security services might have the capability to listen to telephone calls while a neighbor may have the capability to watch you from their window. To say that an attacker “has" a capability does not mean that they will necessarily use that capability. It does mean that you should consider and prepare for the possibility.