Your internal IT team should prioritize protecting your company’s sensitive data. Cyber attacks are becoming more sophisticated in an ever-interconnected world. A data breach could cost your company money, customer trust and your reputation. Improve your information cybersecurity to prevent your data falling into the wrong hands.
Information Security: What does it mean? Information Security: A Guide
Infosec, or information security, refers to the protection of data from unauthorized access, alteration and destruction. Your organization can protect your sensitive data both in transit and at rest by using various tools and processes such as user authorization and data encryption.
Data belonging to your organization should be kept private and only those who require it should have access. It could have serious consequences if it is accidentally released to the public or modified, deleted, and/or altered by someone else. Information security is a way to ensure this does not happen, while also balancing organizational productivity with security policies. This is possible through the information security CIA triad (described below) and information security programs.
Cybersecurity vs Information Security: What’s the difference?
Information security and cybersecurity are sometimes used interchangeably but they are two different concepts.
Information security is the management of data security within cyberspace as well as physical data. Information security covers data stored in file cabinets, computers, or cloud-based data centres. Information security specialists place the importance of data confidentiality, integrity, availability, and protection against potential breaches. They are responsible for creating a recovery plan in the event of a breach or any other manipulation of data.
Cybersecurity can be described as something more than just information security. Cybersecurity covers information security for data in cyberspace as well as protection of other systems and networks. Cybersecurity employs multiple layers of protection to protect data and infrastructure. It is often managed by individuals who have been specifically trained to handle cyber threats. These specialists are often experts in malicious software and can act as the first line defense against cyberattacks.
There are a lot of similarities between cybersecurity and information security. Both are concerned with the security of an organization. However, they do so in slightly different ways. Both consider the potential damage to an organization if unauthorized users gain access to that data. Information security is concerned with the integrity and confidentiality of data. Cybersecurity protects the infrastructure and systems that surround the data.
Information Security Principles – What’s included in Information Security?
Information security revolves around three major objectives, known as the CIA triad. CIA stands to protect your organization’s information with confidentiality, integrity and availability.
Confidentiality
When it comes to information security, Confidentiality is the most important of the three goals. This makes sure that data is not accessible to anyone who isn’t authorized. This can be achieved using authorization, encryption, authorization or any other technique to protect against accidental manipulation, deletion, or attack of data.
Integrity
Information security is all about ensuring data integrity. Confidentiality is a key component of data integrity. It prevents unauthorized users from accessing or modifying your data. Data integrity is also enhanced by backup and recovery solutions. Snapshots of older versions are kept in case of malicious deletion or modification.
Non-repudiation can also be applied to the data integrity section of information security. According to the NIST computer science center, non-repudiation means “assurance that the sender has provided proof of delivery and that the recipient has provided proof of sender’s identification so neither can later deny they have processed the information”. This is proof of origin and integrity of data. It can be used to verify the validity or integrity of the information.
Available
The last part of the CIA triad, availability, is the counterpart to confidentiality. Access to data is blocked by confidentiality, but users authorized to have it can be accessed. Monitoring your network is also part of this section. This ensures that your organization has the necessary networking capabilities to handle the volume commands and makes information available at all times.
You can achieve the best information security outcome by using all parts of this trio.
Information Security Program Measures
To ensure that your organization’s data security is protected, it is a good idea to create an information security plan. The holistic program will include all the measures and practices that your organization can use to secure and protect your data, with the goal of it maturing over time. No matter if your organization has a formal information security plan, the same type of steps should be taken.
Software and hardware to protect data, including email security, encryption, firewalls and access controls. This is the first line defense. It creates barriers around data to prevent cybercriminals from modifying it.
Your users should be trained to share best practices and awareness. Your chances of making an error are reduced if your users are knowledgeable about information security.
Identify the organizational structure and identify specific responsibilities. A team from each department can be formed to create an information security unit within the organization. This will ensure that all information security requirements are met.
These are the basic steps to help you create an information security plan for your company, which will provide enhanced security.
Why is an Information Security Program necessary?
Strong information security programs clearly define how data will remain safe, how risk will be assessed, how risks will be managed, the consequences of any risks, and other important details. Poor information security can cost your company money, customers’ trust, and your reputation. According to the National CyberSecurity Alliance (NCSA), 37% of small-to medium businesses suffered financial losses, 25% filed for bankruptcy and 10% were forced out of business after a data breach.
Information security is a crucial aspect of compliance for any organization. Even if you are not required to meet compliance standards in your industry, meeting ISO 27001 and NIST CSF will increase your information security as well as your reputation. Platforms like Orrios OnTrack make it easy to get your security in order and achieve compliance standards. OnTrack guides you through each step of the process and helps you to look at your entire organization in order to find any gaps. This platform can help you understand your current organizational structure, manage current risks, and identify vendor and partner risks.
Conclusion
Your organization’s success depends on information security. Information security is based on the CIA triad, confidentiality, integrity and availability. Its purpose is to prevent unauthorized access or modifications of your data. Your organization can create a program to improve information security. This includes software and hardware, best practices training for users, and an organizational structure for responsibilities. These programs can help to prevent data breaches from affecting your company’s reputation, customers, and financials. Orrios OnTrack is a compliance platform that can help you build an information security program for your company and ensure that you meet all requirements.
