Security-state-reporting and data-control functionality introduced into a computer system to monitor and report the security state of the computer system and to store and make selectively available, for processes executing within a computer system, security-state-associated data. The hardware element includes two control registers, a current-security-state control register ("CSS") and a current-data-bank control register ("CDB"). When the CSS is read, the CSS reports the current security state of the computer system, with security states represented as unsigned integers starting from a highest security level of 0 and decreasing with unsigned integers of increasing magnitudes. The CDB controls access to one or more data-register banks, positioning a data-register window to allow access only to those data-register-bank registers associated with the currently reported security state.