The CIA triad

The CIA triad is a key tenet at the core of information security. This tool is used to help the information security professional think about how to best protect organizational data:

• Confidentiality: It has to do with whether or not information is kept secret or private. Mechanisms should be employed, such as encryption, which will render the data useless if it was accessed in an unauthorized manner.
• Integrity: It has to do with whether the information is kept accurate. Information should not be modified in an unauthorized manner and safeguards should be put in place that allows for detectable and timely unauthorized changes.
• Availability: It has to do with ensuring that information is available when it is needed. This control can be accomplished by implementing tools ranging from battery backup at the data center, to a content distribution network in the cloud: