Overview
This lecture explains the CIA Triad, the foundational model of IT security, covering its three principles: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
The CIA Triad Overview
- The CIA Triad stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability, key principles of information security.
- It is unrelated to the Central Intelligence Agency, despite sharing the acronym.
- The triad is often represented as a triangle, with each leg representing one security objective.
Confidentiality
- Confidentiality involves preventing unauthorized access to private information.
- Encryption ensures only intended recipients can read data, protecting it from unauthorized viewers.
- Access controls restrict user permissions to specific data depending on roles or departments.
- Multi-factor authentication increases confidentiality by requiring several methods of identity verification.
Integrity
- Integrity ensures data received is exactly as sent, with no unauthorized changes.
- Hashing generates a unique code for data; matching hashes on both ends confirms data integrity.
- Digital signatures encrypt hashed data, verifying both data integrity and the sender’s identity.
- Certificates help identify users or devices, providing an extra layer of assurance.
- Non-repudiation means the sender cannot deny sending the information, proving the origin of data.
Availability
- Availability ensures data and systems are accessible when needed by authorized users.
- Fault tolerance uses redundant components to maintain operation if one fails.
- Regular system patching and updates keep systems stable and reduce vulnerabilities.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Confidentiality — the protection of information from unauthorized access.
- Integrity — assurance that information is unchanged from its original state.
- Availability — ensuring information and systems are accessible when required.
- Encryption — converting data into a code to prevent unauthorized access.
- Hashing — producing a fixed value from data to verify its integrity.
- Digital Signature — an encrypted hash that authenticates the sender and protects data integrity.
- Non-repudiation — cannot deny authorship or sending of data.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review the main components of the CIA Triad for better understanding of IT security fundamentals.