Question

A variation on the Trojan horse is a brand-new piece of encryption software that seems secure, but which actually contains a backdoor, something that allows its designers to decrypt everybody's messages.
—The Code Book,
Simon Singh

What part of speech is secure, as used in this excerpt?



What word is secure describing?



What does secure mean, as used in this excerpt?

Answer 1

What part of speech is secure, as used in this excerpt?

Secure, here, is an adjective.

What word is secure describing?

Software. The software seems secure. Therefore, secure is an adjective attributing a characteristic to the noun: software.  

What does secure mean, as used in this excerpt?

It means safe. It means that that piece of encryption looks like something that will not cause you problems.

Answer 2

Answer:

The first answer is an "adjective", the second answer is "software", and the last one is "safe from attack"

Explanation: