CIA Triad

Summary

This lecture delves into the fundamental aspects of computer security, focusing on the CIA triad which stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability. The speaker explains that computer security aims to protect information systems, including hardware, software, firmware, data, and telecommunications, against unauthorized access and breaches. The CIA triad ensures that data remains confidential, unaltered in integrity, and accessible when needed. The lecture also touches on the importance of additional elements like Authenticity and Accountability, which are crucial for verifying the trustworthiness of information sources and maintaining a record of user activities for forensic analysis. The impact of security breaches is categorized into low, medium, and high levels, with each level representing increasing severity of consequences. Real-world examples, such as banking transactions and healthcare systems, illustrate the practical applications of the CIA triad in safeguarding sensitive information and ensuring reliable access to services.

Takeaways

• 🔒 The definition of computer security by NIST emphasizes the protection of information systems to preserve integrity, availability, and confidentiality of resources.
• 📈 The CIA triad is a fundamental concept in computer security, consisting of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability as its three key elements.
• 🔐 Confidentiality ensures that information is accessible only to authorized entities, preventing unauthorized access and disclosure.
• 🛡️ Integrity ensures that data remains unaltered during transmission, preventing unauthorized modifications that could lead to incorrect or harmful outcomes.
• 🚀 Availability ensures that systems and services are accessible and functioning as expected, even in the face of potential attacks or disruptions.
• 📉 The impact of a security breach can be categorized into low, medium, and high levels, with each level indicating the severity and potential consequences of the breach.
• 🔑 Authenticity and Accountability are additional elements to the CIA triad, focusing on verifying the identity of parties involved and ensuring responsibility for actions taken within a system.
• 🏦 An example of confidentiality is banking account information, which should be encrypted to prevent unauthorized viewing or interception.
• 🏥 An example of integrity is patient information in a hospital management system, where the accuracy of sensor data is critical for proper medical treatment.
• ✅ An example of availability is an authentication service, which must be constantly available to verify user identities for system access.
• 📚 Each organization has its own set of policies that determine the specific needs for confidentiality, integrity, and availability, which must be followed accordingly.

Q & A

What are the three key objectives of computer security?

The three key objectives of computer security are confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

What does the term 'confidentiality' in the context of computer security mean?

Confidentiality in computer security refers to the protection of information from unauthorized access and disclosure, ensuring that only authorized parties can understand the information being transmitted.

How is integrity defined within the CIA triad?

Integrity within the CIA triad ensures that the information being transmitted remains unchanged and unaltered during transit, guaranteeing that the receiver gets the exact message sent by the sender without any modifications by unauthorized entities.

What does the term 'availability' signify in the context of computer security?

Availability in computer security means ensuring timely and reliable access to the information system resources, which implies that the system is operational and accessible when required by the users.

What is the role of encryption in achieving confidentiality in computer security?

Encryption plays a crucial role in achieving confidentiality by converting the original message into a scrambled text that can only be read by those who possess the correct encryption key, thus preventing unauthorized access to the information.

What are the three levels of impact of a security breach?

The three levels of impact of a security breach are low level impact (limited adverse effect), medium level impact (serious adverse effect, possibly involving significant loss or life-threatening issues), and high level impact (catastrophic adverse effect, leading to severe damage or complete disaster for the organization).

What is the additional element 'authenticity' in the CIA triad, and why is it important?

Authenticity is an additional element in the CIA triad that ensures the genuineness of the information and the ability to verify the identity of the parties involved in a transaction. It is important because it helps in establishing trust and ensuring that the information is coming from a trusted source.

How is 'accountability' different from the core elements of the CIA triad?

Accountability is another additional element that focuses on the responsibility and tracking of actions performed by users within an information system. It is different from the core CIA elements as it deals with maintaining records of activities for forensic analysis and ensuring that users do not misuse their privileges.

Why is it crucial to maintain the integrity of patient information in a hospital management system?

Maintaining the integrity of patient information is crucial because any unauthorized modification to the data, such as heartbeat rates or medical test results, could lead to incorrect diagnoses and treatments, potentially resulting in life-threatening consequences for the patient.

What is the importance of availability in the context of an authentication service?

The availability of an authentication service is important because it needs to be accessible at all times to verify users' identities for secure access to systems. If the service is unavailable, users cannot access the system, which can disrupt operations and services.

How can the CIA triad help in preventing security breaches?

The CIA triad helps prevent security breaches by focusing on three core principles: confidentiality protects information from unauthorized access, integrity ensures data remains unaltered, and availability guarantees consistent access to information systems. Adhering to these principles makes it more difficult for attackers to compromise a system.

What is the role of telecommunications in computer security?

Telecommunications plays a significant role in computer security as it involves the transmission of data over networks. Protecting telecommunications ensures that data is secure during transit, preventing unauthorized access and ensuring the confidentiality and integrity of the information being exchanged.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Computer Security and the CIA Triad

This paragraph introduces the topic of computer security and outlines the learning objectives for the session. The key terms of computer security are defined, emphasizing the importance of integrity, availability, and confidentiality. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is credited for the computer security definition. The paragraph also previews the discussion on the CIA triad and the impact levels of security breaches.

05:01

🔒 The CIA Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability

The CIA triad is explored in depth, starting with confidentiality, which ensures that information is only accessible to authorized parties. The concept of integrity is then explained, which is about ensuring that data remains unaltered during transmission. Availability ensures that systems are accessible and functional when required. The paragraph also touches on the importance of encryption in maintaining confidentiality and the role of the security system in preventing unauthorized modifications to data.

10:03

📈 Understanding the Levels of Impact of a Security Breach

This section categorizes the impact of security breaches into three levels: low, medium, and high. It explains that a low-level impact results in limited adverse effects, medium-level impact can lead to serious consequences, and a high-level impact signifies a catastrophic event for an organization. The paragraph further elaborates on additional elements of the CIA triad, namely authenticity and accountability, and their significance in information security.

15:04

🌐 Real-World Applications and Expectations of the CIA Triad

The final paragraph provides real-world examples to illustrate the concepts of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. It discusses the encryption of banking information, the integrity of patient data in hospital management systems, and the constant availability of authentication services. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing that every organization has its own set of security policies and requirements, which should be adhered to for effective security management.

Keywords

💡Computer Security

Computer security refers to the protection measures taken to ensure the safety and integrity of computer systems, networks, and data. It is a key theme in the video, as it encompasses the objectives of preserving the integrity, availability, and confidentiality of information system resources. An example from the script is the protection afforded to an automated information system, which includes hardware, software, firmware, information, or data, and telecommunications.

💡CIA Triad

The CIA Triad is a model used to guide information security practices, representing the three core elements of confidentiality, integrity, and availability. In the video, it is the central concept that structures the discussion of computer security objectives. The script elaborates on each element, emphasizing their significance in safeguarding data and services within computer systems.

💡Confidentiality

Confidentiality is one of the key elements of the CIA Triad, focusing on preventing unauthorized access to information. It is defined as the property that information is only accessible to those authorized to view it. In the context of the video, confidentiality is illustrated by the encryption of messages, ensuring that only the sender and the intended receiver can understand the content.

💡Integrity

Integrity, another element of the CIA Triad, ensures that data is accurate and consistent, preventing unauthorized modification. The video defines integrity with the formula 'sent is equal to received,' meaning the receiver should get the exact message sent by the sender without any alterations. An example given is a banking transaction, where the integrity of the transaction amount is crucial to prevent fraud.

💡Availability

Availability is the third element of the CIA Triad, which ensures that information systems are accessible and functional when required by the user. The video emphasizes the importance of availability by using Google's servers as an example, noting that they should be accessible at any time to provide reliable services to users.

💡Security Breach

A security breach is a violation of an information system's security, leading to unauthorized access, exposure, or loss of data. The video outlines three levels of impact of a security breach: low, medium, and high, each with increasing severity and potential consequences for individuals or organizations. The impact levels are used to illustrate the importance of robust security measures.

💡Encryption

Encryption is a method of encoding messages or information to ensure security and confidentiality. It plays a crucial role in achieving confidentiality within computer security. The video mentions that encryption turns data into a scrambled form that only authorized parties with the correct key can decipher, thereby preventing unauthorized access to the information.

💡Telecommunications

Telecommunications refers to the transmission of information over distances through various means, such as networks and wireless signals. In the context of computer security, as discussed in the video, telecommunications security is vital to protect the data being transmitted across networks, ensuring that it remains confidential and secure from interception or tampering.

💡Authenticity

Authenticity, mentioned as an additional element to the CIA Triad, is the property of being genuine and being able to verify the identity of the parties involved in a transaction. The video uses the example of accessing a trusted website like Google, where the server can verify that the request is coming from a legitimate source, ensuring the authenticity of the communication.

💡Accountability

Accountability is another additional element discussed in the video, which relates to the responsibility and tracking of actions within an information system. It is essential for information security as it involves keeping records of user activities, which can be used for forensic analysis in the event of a security breach. This allows for tracing and identifying the source of the breach.

💡Information System Resources

Information system resources encompass the collective components of an information system, including hardware, software, firmware, data, and telecommunications. The video highlights the importance of securing these resources as part of computer security. It is the comprehensive nature of these resources that makes them a target for security breaches, and thus, they require protection to maintain the integrity and confidentiality of the information they hold.

Highlights

The CIA triad is introduced as a fundamental concept in computer security, encompassing Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

Computer security is defined by NIST as the protection provided to an automated information system to preserve integrity, availability, and confidentiality.

Integrity in computer security ensures that data remains unaltered during transmission, maintaining the accuracy of information.

Confidentiality involves protecting data from unauthorized access and disclosure, typically through encryption.

Availability ensures timely and reliable access to the system, even when faced with potential attacks or disruptions.

The importance of telecommunications in computer security is emphasized, highlighting the need to secure data transmission across networks.

The concept of encryption is explained as a method to achieve confidentiality, where only the sender and receiver can understand the message.

Authenticity and accountability are introduced as additional elements to the CIA triad, focusing on verifying the identity of parties and recording user activities.

The impact of a security breach is categorized into low, medium, and high levels, each with increasing severity on organizational operations and assets.

Examples of confidentiality breaches include unauthorized access to banking information, which can be mitigated through encryption.

Integrity is illustrated through the critical nature of medical data, where any modification in patient information could lead to life-threatening consequences.

The necessity for authentication services to be highly available is exemplified by the constant accessibility of services like Google.

Different applications and organizations may have varying requirements for confidentiality, integrity, and availability based on their specific policies.

The lecture concludes with an encouragement for learners to understand the key objectives of computer security and the practical implications of the CIA triad.

The importance of a security system's ability to withstand attacks and maintain service availability is emphasized.

The role of encryption algorithms in maintaining confidentiality is discussed, noting that while the algorithms are public, the keys remain secret.

The lecture provides a comprehensive overview of computer security, including the definition, key objectives, and the impact of security breaches.

Transcripts

[Music]

hello everyone

welcome back in today's lecture we will

see the cia triad

as usual we will start the session with

the outcomes

upon the completion of this session the

learner will be able to

outcome number one we will define

computer security

outcome number two we will know the key

objectives of computer security

outcome number three we will understand

the c i

a triad and outcome number four we will

know various levels of

impact of security breach before we step

into the cia triad

let's see the definition of computer

security the computer security

definition is as follows the protection

afforded to an automated information

system

in order to attain the applicable

objectives of preserving

the integrity availability and

confidentiality of

information system resources which

includes hardware

software firmware information or data

and telecommunications and this is the

definition of computer security by

nist which is a government organization

of the united states

i know you will find many key terms in

the definition

i will just provide you an easy way to

understand this definition

let's figure out the three important key

terms of the definition

number one the integrity number two the

availability

and number three confidentiality if we

understand all these three key terms

then the definition will be easy

ultimately we are going to provide

security to the system

the system includes both hardware and

software not only hardware and software

we should also focus on the firmwares or

the data or the information that is

processed by the system

and not only this the telecommunications

as well

what is telecommunications it is the

communication

at a distance so in this subject we are

going to focus

on security in all aspects of the

computer networks

and obviously computer networks has a

lot of things to deal with

if these three key objectives are clear

that is the integrity availability and

confidentiality that the definition will

be clear

anyway we are going to see these three

key terms elaborately

in the cia triad part let's now step

into the cia triad

what is the cia triad the name itself

says that it is a triad tri means three

so there are three key elements of this

c i a triad

let's see what are the three key

elements we can see the first element is

the confidentiality

the second one is the integrity and the

third one is the availability and we can

notice that

everything is for the data and the

services we are going to do with the

computer system

all right let's see the key terms

elaborately firstly we will focus on the

first key element

the confidentiality when we say

something is confidential what do you

mean by that

it means others should not understand

except the parties who are involved in

that transaction

say if i am drafting a letter to my

friend and if i mention that it is

confidential

this confidential message means it

should be known to me

as well as to my friend right because

these two parties are legitimate parties

involved in this transaction

now if an anonymous person receives this

letter or message

and if he sees the message or the

content what is there in the transaction

then ultimately there is loss of privacy

right so obviously we don't have any

confidentiality when somebody sees the

message

so we need to prevent unauthorized

access and disclosure

unauthorized access means nobody else

can access

except the right entities who are

involved in the transaction and

disclosure means the message should not

be open enough

to be simple if the message is encrypted

no one else can see what is the message

except the sender and the receiver right

because the sender and the receiver only

will know what is the message what is

the key what is the encryption algorithm

everything right

generally encryption algorithms are kept

public and keys only

are kept secret anyway i will talk about

this later for time being just

understand

confidentiality means we need to protect

the data that is being transmitted

if it is encrypted obviously it provides

confidentiality because

no one else can see what it is right it

is a scrambled text that they are seeing

no one else should be able to understand

what is the message that is being

transmitted between the sender and the

receiver

this is exactly confidentiality let's

come to the second key element

in cia triad which is the integrity i

will just give you a formula like this

sent is equal to received whatever the

sender is sending

the same message only the receiver

should receive for example if you are

performing a banking transaction of 1000

rupees

obviously the transaction should involve

only 1 000 rupees

what if an attacker modifies this as 10

000 rupees

not only the modification of amount by

the attacker

let's assume the destination address or

the destination account is given

as the attacker's account just imagine

this for an example this may not be real

and this may not be seeming to be a

perfect example

but i wanted to make you to understand

the severity of modification of message

i wanted to explain you what is

integrity so we don't want any

modification of messages by the

unauthorized people

say you want to transfer some fund to

your friend but unfortunately the fund

is being transmitted or transferred

to somebody else account that is

attackers account obviously this has

happened because of the modification

of the messages that is being

transmitted between the sender and the

receiver

by the attackers so this transaction

should not be permitted by the system

and the security system should be able

to find out that this is not the message

that was sent by the sender

in other words the security system

should ensure that this is not the

transaction that was initiated by the

sender

so integrity means we need to ensure

that there is no modification of the

message that is being transmitted

so whatever the sender is sending that

only the receiver should receive

and if there is any modification in the

message that is being transmitted the

system should be able to find out that

and it should discard that message so

integrity is also one of the key terms

of the cia triad

and coming to the third key element

which is the availability

availability means we need to ensure the

timely and the reliable access to the

system

say for example if you are hitting

google.com if you hit now it will work

if you hit after one hour it will work

if you hit after 10 days it will work

because you trust that google server

will be always available

at the same time there may be many

attacks that may be launched against

google.com server

but still google server is a very

secured one and google is able to

provide its service to the customers or

the users who access it

without any flaws so that's the power of

a security

system i will also provide you one more

example imagine you have a bank account

and you want to access your banking

server

you are expecting the banking server to

respond you with the requested data

what if an attacker has launched an

attack on the banking server

and disrupted the service so when you

access the banking server you are not

getting the service that you are

expecting

obviously we don't encourage that

because whenever we want a service we

expect the system to provide service to

us

and this service should be a timely and

a reliable service as well

there will be attackers always on the

internet and our security system is

expected to provide security to the

system

and to the users and whenever any attack

is launched on the server

we expect the server should withstand

that attack it should still be able to

provide access to the servers in the

same way as it was in the perfect

situation

and that's it about the cia triad let's

now navigate to the levels of impact

of security breach when there is a

security breach

in the organizational data or to the

server or to an individual

basically there will be three levels of

impact number one

is the low level impact number two is

the medium level impact

and number three is the high level

impact we will see the various levels of

impact of security breach one by one now

firstly we will focus on low level

impact if your system is affected by

some attacks

and the low level impact means there is

a limited adverse effect

on organizations operation or

organizational assets or

individual that is the system is

affected with minor

harm or minor damage or in terms of

financial aspects

it is a minor financial loss if the

effect of the attack is negligible then

it falls in the low level impact

and coming to the next level of impact

which is the medium level of impact

it has a serious adverse effect on

organizational operation

or organizational assets or even serious

adverse effect on

individual so the loss may be a

significant loss or a significant damage

or a significant harm that is caused to

the organization or to the individual

and this medium level of impact means

the attack may be involving in the loss

of life

or even serious life threatening issues

also

and coming to the final level of impact

which is the high level impact

so when the medium itself is very

dangerous think about the high level

impact so everything is gone

right so the reputation everything high

level impact of security breach means

the organization

has catastrophic adverse effect it means

severe adverse effect on organizational

operations or organizational assets or

individual it is a complete disaster to

the organization

so these are the three levels of impact

of security breach

and this could be for an individual or

for an organization

or for an organizational data or for the

information system

or for any kind of stuff that really

needs security

before we step out let's see the

additional features of cia triad

basically the cia triad includes only

three key elements right the

confidentiality

the integrity and the availability we

also have two more additional elements

and the additional elements are number

one the authenticity and number two

accountability authenticity is the

property of being genuine and being able

to verify the part is

involved say if the sender is going to

send some message to the receiver

say if the receiver is receiving a

message and the receiver should be able

to verify that the message is from the

right party

or the message is from the trusted

source we will call this property as

authenticity in other words let's say

you are accessing google.com

suppose if you give a request from your

browser as www.google.com

and you are expecting that your request

is going to google server and not any

bogus server

right when the request is received by

google server and google should be able

to verify that it is from you

so this is we call as authentication or

authenticity

and coming to the next additional

element which is accountability

say for example accountability is also

an essential part of an information

security plan

it means every individual who works with

an organization or who works with an

information system

should have specific responsibilities

for information

assurance every user who access the

system has their own roles and

responsibilities

and whatever the actions the users

perform the system should keep records

of their activities

why system should keep track of the

activities because

later if any attack is launched or if we

find that something is suspicious

then the system should permit forensic

analysis later

to trace the security breaches so in

order to do that we need to ensure that

the system is

accountable every user is given some

responsibility

and every user should access only to

that level of privilege

or it must ensure that the users are not

misusing their privileges

let's see some real time examples for

confidentiality

integrity and availability the first one

we will see

is confidentiality for example the

banking account information say you have

your mobile phone and you have your

banking

app in your mobile phone if you request

some data from your banking server

and from the banking server to your

mobile phone or to your desktop from

where you are going to access

the data traffic must be encrypted what

if the data is not encrypted

obviously there are chances for the

attackers to see what information is

being transferred between the sender and

the receiver

so we don't encourage that should happen

so encryption is one of the ways we can

achieve

confidentiality if the message is

encrypted

except the server and you who are

accessing the system

no one else can understand what it is so

the message must be encrypted

encryption is one of the ways to achieve

confidentiality

coming to the second example which is

integrity the patient's information

say for example there is a hospital

management system let's assume someone

is having some disease and that person

is installed with some sensors

and the sensors are installed on his

body in this hospital management system

the doctor can be anywhere in the world

and the patient can also be anywhere in

the world but still doctor and patient

relationship

can exist seamlessly because of the

powerful internet connectivity and the

iot concepts the internet of things

in this example the patient is wearing a

sensor and the patient or doctor need

not be in person

to do the medical treatment or to get

the medical treatment

and what is the role of the sensor you

know the sensor is going to report the

heartbeat rate periodically to the

doctor

by other servers let's assume the server

is going to collect all the heartbeat

information that is sent by the sensor

so obviously whatever the sensor is

sensing the heartbeat value that should

be stored without any alteration in the

server

only then the doctor will be able to

provide right treatment to the patient

if the sensor is sensing the right value

and the right value is sent to the

server but

during the travel if an attacker is

modifying the value

and if this modification is stored in

the server and when the doctor sees this

modified value and

is giving some treatment based on this

this could be

a life threatening issue also it could

even lead to lethality or fatality

let's assume the heartbeat value that is

sensed by the sensor is 70

and this 70 is now being transmitted to

the receiver that is the server

what if the attackers captures this

packet and modifies it as 150.

so the treatment may go wrong right

because of this so all patients

information must be

confidential and not only confidential

it should also have the property of

integrity

so whatever the sender is sending that

only the receiver should receive

no modification should be permitted so

this is an example for integrity

and coming to the next one the

availability example

authentication service let's assume

there is a server which is providing

authentication service

and whenever user wants to carry out any

activity this user must be verified or

authenticated by the authentication

server

and this authentication server should be

always available because user may

request data access

at any point of time so authentication

is one of the important services that

should be always available

we can take google as an example also

just think anytime you access google.com

you will be able to get the access

because google.com server is available

all the time

and whenever you request any service you

should get that service that's what as

an end user we will expect right

the examples that are shown here just

for understanding concepts but in

reality

every application or every organization

has their own set of policies

their confidentiality level or their

confidentiality need will be different

from each other say for example the

integrity requirement or the

availability requirement or the

confidentiality requirement

for every individual or an organization

varies so it has to be followed as per

the policies they frame

i hope these examples will help you to

understand what is confidentiality

integrity and availability and that's it

guys i hope now you understood the

computer security

the key objectives of computer security

we also understood the cia triad

and we also have seen various levels of

impact of security breach

i hope you guys enjoyed today's lecture

i'll see you in the next lecture and

thank you for watching