What is cybersecurity?
The CISA defines cybersecurity as “the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.” Every organization is using some form of information technology, be it for bookkeeping or when one is keeping records for shipment tracking, service delivery—whatever it may be, that data has to be protected. Cybersecurity measures ensure your business remains secure and operational at all times.
Meaning of the CIA Triad
The CIA triad is a model of information security that stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. It helps organizations design security systems and give guidelines on how to accomplish information security. It offers a structure for cybersecurity professionals to use while auditing, implementing, and enhancing security measures. It is an effective method for identifying weak points and developing solutions to strengthen policies and programs.
Confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information are inseparable characteristics of information that are necessary to run any business, and the CIA triad breaks these three concepts down into individual points of emphasis. This could be helpful because it tends to guide security teams to pinpoint the different ways in which they can answer each concern.
The three principles forming the basis of CIA triad are as follows:
-
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means that only the intended person/system can view sensitive or classified information. The data being sent over the network should not be accessed by unauthorized individuals. The attacker may try to capture your data using different tools available on the Internet and get access to your information. The primary ways to avoid this are by using encryption techniques that will help safeguard your data so that even if the attacker gets access to it, then he/she won’t be able to decrypt it. These encryption standards are AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) and DES (Data Encryption Standard). Another way to protect your data is through a VPN tunnel. VPN stands for Virtual Private Network, which provides a route for the data to move securely over the network.
-
Integrity
Integrity ensures that both the data and the business analysts have accurate information so that correct decisions can be made. Integrity of data represented publicly is important in order to create confidence in customers about the organization. An integrity-ensured system helps in protecting data from accidental and malicious alteration. This could be implemented in the form of access levels by cybersecurity experts, enabling traceability of a change, and security for transfer and storage of data.
For instance, when you send an email, you are assuming that the information you relay is the information that the recipient will receive. If that information were altered along the way (for example, a third party intercepted the email and changed some of the key points) then it can be said that the data has lost integrity.
-
Availability
Availability is the concept that those who need to have access to data can do so—without impacting its confidentiality or integrity. Data availability can sometimes be very difficult to ensure in data systems since it may clash with the other factors in the triad. An excellent way of securing data is through access limitation to the information. If you have worked in an information security role, chances are that you have encountered some resistance from customers or coworkers over information availability.
Several things can threaten availability, from hardware collapse and software issues to power failure and natural circumstances beyond one’s control. The most recognizable attack on availability is a denial-of-service DoD or DDoS attack, whereby the performance of a server is knowingly and maliciously tarnished, or the system becomes completely inaccessible. Availability can be maintained by regular upgrades, fail-over plans, removing bottlenecks in a network and hardware fault tolerance.
Importance of CIA in cybersecurity
The CIA triad provides organizations with a thorough checklist for assessing their incident response strategy in the case of a cyber breach. The CIA trio is useful for identifying sources of vulnerability and determining what went wrong after a network has been infiltrated. From there, this data can be used to identify weak points and vulnerabilities.
Using the CIA principles to develop your cybersecurity infrastructure unlocks the following benefits for your business:
- Secure data: Cyber attacks are getting sophisticated. Given the chances of losing your data to hacking, implementing the CIA system reduces associated risks.
- Identifying vulnerabilities: You are able to recognize threats, risks, and vulnerabilities in your system by designing with the CIA in mind.
- Regulatory compliance: This security triad keeps you compliant with legal frameworks and regulations related to cybersecurity and data protection.
- Protection that is cohesive: The triad is designed to protect all bases. From cyber attacks to human error, this triad keeps your data safe from all possible security risks.
In this digital age, the CIA Triad is more relevant than ever. By putting confidentiality, integrity, and availability first, we can create a safer and more secure online environment for everyone!
