Information security is the practice of defending information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, recording or destruction. It is a general term that can be used regardless of the form the data may take (e.g. electronic, physical). The CIA triad of confidentiality, integrity, and availability is at the heart of information security.
Confidentiality is the property, that information is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals. Data integrity means maintaining and assuring the accuracy and completeness of data over its entire life-cycle. This means that data cannot be modified in an unauthorized or undetected manner. Information security systems typically provide message integrity in addition to data confidentiality. For any information system to serve its purpose, the information must be available when it is needed. This means that the computing systems used to store and process the information and the security controls used to protect it must be functioning correctly.
Information Technology security is information security applied to technology (most often some form of computer system). It is worthwhile to note that a computer does not necessarily mean a home desktop. A computer is any device with a processor and some memory. Such devices can range from non-networked standalone devices as simple as calculators, to networked mobile computing devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. IT security specialists are almost always found in any major enterprise/establishment due to the nature and value of the data within larger businesses. They are responsible for keeping all of the technology within the company secure from malicious cyber-attacks that often attempt to breach into critical private information or gain control of the internal systems. Computer system threats come in many different forms. Some of the most common threats today are software attacks, theft of intellectual property, identity theft, theft of equipment or information, sabotage, and information extortion. Most people have experienced software attacks of some sort. Viruses, worms, phishing attacks, and trojan horses are a few common examples of software attacks. The theft of intellectual property has also been an extensive issue for many businesses in the IT field. There are many ways to help protect yourself from some of these attacks but one of the most functional precautions is user carefulness.
To protect important information access to it must be restricted to people who are authorized to access the information. This requires that mechanisms be in place to control the access to protected information. Access control is generally considered in three steps: Identification, Authentication, and Authorization.
Identification is an assertion of who someone is or what something is. If a person makes the statement "Hello, my name is John Doe" they are making a claim of who they are. However, their claim may or may not be true. Before John Doe can be granted access to protected information it will be necessary to verify that the person claiming to be John Doe really is John Doe. Typically the claim is in the form of a username. By entering that username you are claiming "I am the person the username belongs to".
|
|
|
Authentication is the act of verifying a claim of identity. When John Doe goes into a bank to make a withdrawal, he tells the bank teller he is John Doe a claim of identity. The bank teller asks to see a photo ID, so he hands the teller his driver's license. The bank teller checks the license to make sure it has John Doe printed on it and compares the photograph on the license against the person claiming to be John Doe. If the photo and name match the person, then the teller has authenticated that John Doe is who he claimed to be. Similarly by entering the correct password, the user is providing evidence that they are the person the username belongs to.
After a person, program or computer has successfully been identified and authenticated then it must be determined what informational resources they are permitted to access and what actions they will be allowed to perform (run, view, create, delete, or change). This is called authorization. Authorization to access information and other computing services begins with administrative policies and procedures. The policies prescribe what information and computing services can be accessed, by whom, and under what conditions. The access control mechanisms are then configured to enforce these policies. Different computing systems are equipped with different kinds of access control mechanisms some may even offer a choice of different access control mechanisms.
