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RISKS Digest
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<p> The RISKS Digest or Forum On Risks to the Public in Computers and Related Systems is an online <a href="/facts/Periodical/1Ep96WIt">periodical</a> published since 1985 by the Committee on Computers and Public Policy of the <a href="/facts/Association_for_Computing_Machinery/abI2atlP">Association for Computing Machinery</a>. The editor is <a href="/facts/Peter_G._Neumann/Hw82xFwb">Peter G. Neumann</a>. </p><p>It is a moderated forum concerned with the security and safety of <a href="/facts/Computer/SQe1aK05">computers</a>, <a href="/facts/Software/RP79lVSW">software</a>, and technological systems. Security, and risk, here are taken broadly; RISKS is concerned not merely with so-called <a href="/facts/Security_hole/jg0Gr71M">security holes</a> in software, but with <a href="/facts/Unintended_consequence/FeLSTncl">unintended consequences</a> and hazards stemming from the design (or lack thereof) of automated systems. Other recurring subjects include <a href="/facts/Cryptography/e94PEVau">cryptography</a> and the effects of technically ill-considered public policies. RISKS also publishes announcements and Calls for Papers from various technical conferences, and technical book reviews (usually by <a href="/facts/Robert_Slade/DoUJ1ot0">Rob Slade</a>, though occasionally by others). </p><p>Although RISKS is a forum of a <a href="/facts/Computer_science/lN3pEyPz">computer science</a> association, most contributions are readable and informative to anyone with an interest in the subject. It is heavily read by <a href="/facts/System_administrator/zNhThrh9">system administrators</a>, and <a href="/facts/Computer_security/7E5dIy7G">computer security</a> managers, as well as computer scientists and <a href="/facts/Engineer/ph4TnHnG">engineers</a>. </p><p>The RISKS Digest is published on a frequent but irregular schedule through the moderated <a href="/facts/Usenet/lYJWFBR6">Usenet</a> <a href="/facts/Newsgroup/282rotmp">newsgroup</a> <i><a href="news:comp.risks">comp.risks</a></i>, which exists solely to carry the Digest. </p><p>Summaries of the forum appear as columns edited by Neumann in the ACM <a href="/facts/SIGSOFT/gvFunSn5">SIGSOFT</a> <i><a href="/facts/Software_Engineering_Notes/CXgDXIBU">Software Engineering Notes</a></i> (SEN) and the <i><a href="/facts/Communications_of_the_ACM/Ix1DvEAk">Communications of the ACM</a></i> (CACM). </p>