From the course: ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) (2024) Cert Prep

The five pillars of information security

From the course: ISC2 Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) (2024) Cert Prep

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The five pillars of information security

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- Information security professionals have broad and important responsibilities for safeguarding the information and systems that are often an organization's most valuable assets. When we think of the goals of information security, we often use a model known as the CIA triad, shown here. It highlights the three most important functions that information security performs in an enterprise; confidentiality, integrity, and availability. We're going to talk about the CIA triad, and we're going to expand it to the five pillars of information security by adding on two more elements; authenticity and non-repudiation. Confidentiality ensures that only authorized individuals have access to information and resources. This is what most people think of when they think about information security. Keeping secrets away from prying eyes, and confidentiality is in fact how security professionals often spend the majority of their time. Malicious individuals seeking to undermine confidentiality, are said to engage in disclosure, making sensitive information available to individuals, or the general public without the owner's consent. Security professionals are also responsible for protecting the integrity of an organization's information. This means that there aren't any unauthorized changes to information. These unauthorized changes may come in the form of a hacker seeking to intentionally alter information, or a service disruption that accidentally affects data stored in the system. In either case, it's the information security professionals' responsibility to prevent these lapses in integrity. The third goal of information security is availability, ensuring that authorized individuals are able to gain access to information when they need it. If users can't access important business records or systems, that lack of availability may have a profound impact on the business. Malicious individuals seeking to undermine availability, engage in attacks known as "denial of service attacks." These attacks try to either overwhelm a system or cause it to crash, denying legitimate users the access that they need. Now, those first three goals make up the CIA triad, and they are the cornerstone of information security. Another model we commonly use is the five pillars of information security. Those five pillars start with the three elements of the CIA triad; confidentiality, integrity, and availability, and then they add on two more elements; authenticity and non-repudiation. Authenticity in information security refers to the verification that data, transactions, communications, or documents are genuine. This pillar ensures that the identity of a user or system involved in any communication or transaction is validated and confirmed. It's about guaranteeing that the data, messages, or documents are from the sources they claim to be from, which is crucial in preventing identity theft, fraud, and unauthorized access. Methods like digital signatures, certificates, and biometric verification are often used to ensure authenticity. Non-repudiation, on the other hand, is about ensuring that once a transaction or communication has taken place, the parties involved cannot deny the validity of their participation, or the authenticity of their signatures or messages. This aspect of information security is vital in legal and contractual environments, where proof of participation or action is necessary. Technologies like digital signatures, and comprehensive audit trails are typically used to provide proof of actions, and prevent denial of involvement in a transaction or a communication, providing non-repudiation. Together, these five pillars make up the foundation of any information security program.

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