What is the information security triad? Also, what are some examples of applying it?
Read on to learn more.
What Is the Information Security Triad?
The Information Security Triad, also known as the CIA triad, is a guide for organizations. This guide helps them make policies to protect information security.
In this context, the CIA means the following:
- Confidentiality – set of rules that limit access to information
- Integrity – the assurance that the information is reliable and correct
- Availability – a guarantee of reliable access to the information
But, that’s just the tip of an iceberg. In this article, we will delve deeper into its meaning, purpose, and how it works.
Information Security Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means keeping information private or secret. But, how does it work?
In practice, organizations control data access. So, they can prevent unauthorized disclosure.
So, it involves two factors:
- Only those who are authorized can access the information.
- Those who are unauthorized are prevented from accessing the information.
For example, customers expect that businesses will protect their private data. Such as credit card, contact, shipping, or other personal information. Or else, unauthorized people can expose it.
Also, confidentiality can be violated in two main methods:
- Intentional – direct attacks, stealing of information, electronic eavesdropping, etc.
- Unintentional – human error, carelessness, or inadequate security controls, etc.
But, we can do something to prevent it. For one, it’s important to practice good security habits.
Such as not sharing user accounts and putting strong passwords.
Integrity
In real life, integrity means keeping something whole or complete. And in InfoSec, it is about keeping information accurate and reliable at all times.
So, it involves two factors:
- Ensure data has not tampered
- Make data correct, authentic, and reliable
For example, banking customers expect that their banking information and account balances have not been tampered with.
Like confidentiality, it also involves two ways of violating integrity:
- Directly via an attack vector – such as changing system logs to evade detection or modifying configuration files
- Unintentionally – human error, coding errors, or inadequate protection mechanisms
Still, there is something that we can do. For one, it involves encryption, hashing, and digital signatures.
It’s also important to verify website users. So, they can detect those intruders.
Availability
True to its name, availability in the information security triad means keeping information available. After all, information is useless if authorized users can’t access it when they need to.
It also has two factors:
- Keep networks, systems, and applications up and running.
- Authorized users have reliable access to resources when they are needed.
Many things can also violate availability. It includes the following:
- hardware or software failure
- power failure
- human error
- natural disasters
- denial-of-service attack
To prevent this, organizations should ensure that they have the following measures:
- hardware fault tolerance
- regular software patching
- system upgrades and backups
- comprehensive disaster recovery plans
- denial-of-service protection solutions
Best Practices of Information Security Triad
Now, how can organizations follow the information security triad? Here are some best practices that they can follow:
- Keep access control lists and other file permissions up to date.
- Use version control, access control, and security control.
- Make a data recovery and business continuity (BC) plan.
