Although there is a claim of improved security through the use of a thick-client LIMS, this is based on the misconception that "only users with the client application installed on their PC can access server side information". This secrecy-of-design reliance is known as security through obscurity and ignores an adversary's ability to mimic client-server interaction through, for example, reverse engineering, network traffic interception, or simply purchasing a thick-client license. Such a view is in contradiction of the "Open Design" principle of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's "Guide to General Server Security" which states that "system security should not depend on the secrecy of the implementation or its components", which can be considered as a reiteration of Kerckhoffs's principle.