What is the CIA Triad?
The CIA Triad, which stands for Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability, is a foundational cyber security model that businesses should prioritise when creating, implementing, and managing networks or security systems. Let's go over each of the three ideas:
Confidentiality refers to the procedures and controls a business employs to make sure that information is kept both secure and private. This can be enforced through various methods, such as role-based access, encryption, and authentication methods such as biometrics or MFA/2FA. An effective system should be correctly configured to allow access to authorised individuals, whilst restricting, or preventing access to unauthorised viewers.
Integrity guarantees that data stored by a business is authentic, trustworthy, and tamper-free. Integrity can only be maintained as long as the data has not been modified. This can be verified in multiple ways, but some of the most popular include hashing and version control. These measures prevent unauthorised modification or intentional corruption of stored data.
Availability dictates that systems, networks, and business applications must function as expected, and when they are required, and that those authorised to access specific data must be able to retrieve it whenever they need to, and without significant delay. Put simply, businesses must be able to provide users and clients with the data they need regardless of circumstances. This can be achieved through systems such as backups, failovers, and disaster recovery processes, all of which aim to maintain the availability of business critical data or infrastructure.
Balancing all three elements is essential for an effective cyber security posture. Over-prioritising one idea, such as confidentiality, at the expense of availability, could potentially make systems overly restrictive and unusable. Many compliance frameworks, including ISO 27001, SOC 2, and Cyber Essentials, incorporate the CIA Triad as a foundation for security controls and risk management.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality refers to the procedures and controls a business employs to make sure that information is kept both secure and private. This can be enforced through various methods, such as role-based access, encryption, and authentication methods such as biometrics or MFA/2FA. An effective system should be correctly configured to allow access to authorised individuals, whilst restricting, or preventing access to unauthorised viewers.
Integrity
Integrity guarantees that data stored by a business is authentic, trustworthy, and tamper-free. Integrity can only be maintained as long as the data has not been modified. This can be verified in multiple ways, but some of the most popular include hashing and version control. These measures prevent unauthorised modification or intentional corruption of stored data.
Availability
Availability dictates that systems, networks, and business applications must function as expected, and when they are required, and that those authorised to access specific data must be able to retrieve it whenever they need to, and without significant delay. Put simply, businesses must be able to provide users and clients with the data they need regardless of circumstances. This can be achieved through systems such as backups, failovers, and disaster recovery processes, all of which aim to maintain the availability of business critical data or infrastructure.
Balancing all three elements is essential for an effective cyber security posture. Over-prioritising one idea, such as confidentiality, at the expense of availability, could potentially make systems overly restrictive and unusable. Many compliance frameworks, including ISO 27001, SOC 2, and Cyber Essentials, incorporate the CIA Triad as a foundation for security controls and risk management.
Updated on: 19/02/2025
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