Computer security is enhanced by creating an environment in which changing the state of a general-purpose input/output (GPIO) output or changing the configuration of a GPIO is allowed only when authorized programs are executing. A storage device stores, responsive to a write signal, a state of a data signal. The GPIO is operable to respond to the state stored in the storage device. Control logic is operable to enable the write signal when a microprocessor in the computer is in a system management mode or a lock signal is not asserted, and to disable the write signal when the lock signal is asserted and the microprocessor is not in the system management mode.