What is Information Security and its types | ecadema - it's time

Information security has been assigned to look after the protection of records and data of organizations from unauthorized access. It is basically a method to prevent unauthorized access, use, declaration, interference, diminution, inspection, recording, or destruction of information. 

This information includes your personal details like mobile data, biometrics, or social media information. 

Thus, Information security traverses research in areas like Cryptography, Mobile Computing, Cyber Forensics, Online Social Media, etc. to provide protection against all confidential information. Many online professional courses are available which focuses on learning information security programs. 

Information security programs focus on 3 prime objectives; 

Confidentiality

Focusing that the information couldn’t be disclosed to any unauthorized individuals, entities, and processes, breaching confidentiality is taken care of at a top-notch level.  

Integrity

 Focusing on maintaining the accuracy and the entirety of the data. Suppose an employee of a particular department left the organization then all other departments will be informed about the “job left” status so that data is complete and accurate and in addition to this only authorized persons should be allowed to edit employee data. 

Availability

 Whenever needed, data should be available and accessible to authorized personalities to run the work process in a smooth way. In case, one needs access to an employee’s profile and working credentials, it requires collaboration from different organizational teams like network operations, development operations, incident response, and policy/change management. All these data are available at a single platform to continue the working process move at ease. 

Information securities strategies are the management of processes, tools, and policies required to prevent, detect, document, and counter menaces to digital and non-digital information. It handles risk management and data securities to protect the information being hacked or stolen. Interactive online Learning about information securities help in the management of these risks. 

Some principles that govern information securities programs are: 

Non-repudiation

means that there couldn’t be any denial of sending or receiving the messages or transactions. For instance, in cryptography, messages that match the digital signature signed with the sender’s private key and that sender could have sent a message and nobody else could have altered it in transit is sufficient. 

Authenticity

It claims the verification of the users’ profile and the information provided by the employee to be true or not and its source. This principle guarantees the validity of the message source and receiving of the messages through valid transmission. For instance, if a sender sends the message along with a digital signature which was generated using the hash value of the message and private key. Now the digital signature is decrypted by a public key generating a hash value and the message is again hashed to generate the hash value on the receiver’s end. If the two value matches then it is a valid transmission with the authentic message. 

Accountability

 It follows the tracing of actions of an entity uniquely to that entity. For instance, every employee shouldn’t be allowed to make changes with employee data, there has to be a particular department and a person responsible to look after the information to be filled and when they receive a request for a change then that letter must be signed by a higher authority. Therefore, if a change goes like this then it will be easier to trace the actions uniquely to an entity.

Types of information Securities 

Application Security

 Application securities include software vulnerabilities in web and mobile applications and application programming interfaces (APIs). These vulnerabilities can be a part of authentication or authorization of users, the integrity of code and configurations, and mature policies and procedures which can create breaches at the entry points in the information securities. 

Cloud Security

By cloud, we can easily figure out that the application is running in a shared environment. Cloud security mainly linchpin the building and hosting of secure applications in cloud environments and consuming third-party cloud applications in a secure manner. 

Cryptography

Encryption of data in transit and that on rest helps to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of the data. To validate the authenticity in cryptography, digital signatures are usually followed up. 

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), a symmetric key algorithm used to protect classified government information could be seen as a fine example of cryptography. 

Vulnerability Management: The process of scanning weak points (such as unpatched software) of an environment and prioritizing remediation based on risk is called Vulnerability management. To save your business from the catastrophic costs of a breach potential vulnerabilities need to be found in advance. Since businesses are constantly adjoining applications, users, infrastructure, and so on, a constant scan is necessary to identify the breaches and vulnerable moments and fix them beforehand. 

The Information security field has been developed recently offering a variety of specialized areas like securing networks and allied infrastructure, securing applications and databases, security testing, information systems auditing, business continuity planning, etc. 

Professional Trainers are working hard in this field to layout the network of information securities to a global address.

When a critical issue arises, information security assures that the information is not compromised in any possible way. Information Securities coherent information assurances implying the act of maintaining CIA of information.

Mariam Hemaya is an Egyptian professional online parenting educator and trainer at ecadema