The procedures and methodologies involved in keeping information secret, available, and guaranteeing its integrity are referred to as information systems security or INFOSEC.
It also refers to the following:
- Access controls, which prohibit unauthorized personnel from gaining access to or entering a system.
- Keeping information safe no matter where it is, such as in transit (such as in an email) or storage.
- Detecting and resolving security breaches, as well as recording these occurrences
- Information systems security includes not only the protection of computer data but also the protection of data and information in all forms, including telephone calls.
To establish which information is more dangerous and risky, risk assessments must be conducted. For example, one system may contain the most sensitive data, necessitating the use of additional security measures to ensure its protection. Another aspect of an information systems security expert is business continuity and catastrophe recovery planning. This professional will prepare for the worst-case scenario in the event of a big company interruption while yet allowing operations to continue as usual.
Importance for Businesses
While recent data breaches at big businesses and other organizations have raised public awareness of information system security, it has been a growing threat for decades. Any business that keeps personal information about its customers, especially information connected to identification or payment, is concerned about the public relations nightmare that a data breach may cause. If malicious software compromises a company’s network, it risks losing a significant amount of potential income as well as property. As the digital threats are always evolving and improving, there is a rising demand for specialized information security specialists to counter them.
Information security principles
Confidentiality
It is usually the first component of the triad that comes to mind when you think about information security. Only those who are authorized to access data are permitted to do so; to ensure secrecy, you must be able to identify who is seeking to access data and refuse those who are not. Passwords, encryption, authentication, and security against hacking attempts are all ways to keep your information private.
Data integrity
It refers to the preservation of data in its original state and the prevention of tampering, either unintentionally or purposefully. Many of the techniques for ensuring confidentiality will also protect data integrity—after all, a hacker can’t change data they don’t have access to—but other tools can help you provide a defense of integrity in-depth: checksums, for example, can help you verify data integrity, and version control software and frequent backups can help you restore data to its original state if necessary. Non-repudiation is another aspect of integrity: you must be able to prove that your data is correct, especially in legal contexts.
Availability
It is the polar opposite of confidentiality: although you must guarantee that your data is not accessible to unauthorized users, you must equally ensure that it is accessible to those with the appropriate authorization. Matching network and computer resources to the volume of data access you expect and having a strong backup policy for disaster recovery reasons are all part of ensuring data availability.
In a perfect world, your data would always be kept secret, in good working order, and accessible; in reality, you’ll have to make decisions about which information security principles to prioritize, which would need analyzing your data. For example, if you’re keeping sensitive medical data, you’ll prioritize confidentiality, but a financial institution may prioritize data integrity to guarantee that no one’s bank account is erroneously credited or debited.
Data Security Policy
A security policy is a vehicle through which these concepts are implemented in an organization. This isn’t a piece of security hardware or software; rather, it’s a document that an organization creates based on its own unique needs and idiosyncrasies to determine what data needs to be secured and how it should be protected. These rules serve as a framework for the organization’s purchasing of cyber security solutions, as well as dictating staff conduct and duties.
Types of InfoSec
Application security
Application security is a wide issue that includes software flaws in online and mobile apps, as well as application programming interfaces (APIs) (APIs). These flaws can be discovered in user authentication or authorization, code and configuration integrity, and well-developed rules and processes. Application flaws can serve as entry points for large-scale data breaches. For InfoSec, application security is a crucial element of perimeter defense.
Cloud security
Cloud security is concerned with the development and hosting of safe applications in cloud environments, as well as the secure usage of third-party cloud apps. The term “cloud” simply refers to a program that runs in a shared environment. Businesses must ensure that various processes in shared settings are adequately isolated.
Cryptography
Data confidentiality and integrity are improved by encrypting data in transit and at rest. In cryptography, digital signatures are widely used to verify the validity of data. The importance of cryptography and encryption is growing. The Advanced Encryption Standard is a wonderful illustration of cryptography in action (AES). The AES algorithm is a symmetric key technique that is used to safeguard sensitive federal data.
Infrastructure security
Internal and extranet networks, labs, data centers, servers, PCs, and mobile devices are all protected by infrastructure security.
Incident response
The function of incident response is to keep an eye out for and investigate the possibly harmful activity.
IT personnel should have an incident response strategy in place to limit the danger and restore the network in the event of a breach. The strategy should also include a method for preserving evidence for forensic analysis and possible prosecution. This information may be used to avoid future breaches and assist employees in identifying the perpetrator.
Vulnerability management
The practice of evaluating an environment for weak areas (such as unpatched software) and prioritizing remediation based on risk is known as vulnerability management.
Businesses are continuously adding apps, users, infrastructure, and other features to numerous networks. As a result, it is critical to scan the network for possible vulnerabilities regularly. Finding a vulnerability ahead of time can spare your company from the devastating repercussions of a data breach.
