Information Assurance
Information Assurance (IA) entails the exercise of controlling information-related peril and the processes involved to guard information systems. The information systems include; network and computer systems. Information Assurance also involves managing of dangers related to the utilization, storage, transmission and processing of data and information. While putting your focus primarily digitalize information, the complete range of AI circumscribe physical/analogue and digital forms of knowledge.
Information assurance protects data which is being moved, both electronic and physical forms as well as the data which is at rest in different samples of electronic and analogue storage facilities. IA can be well thought as an information security’s hyperonym. Security issues involving networks became a little bit widespread. Hence, information assurance has developed and emerged as an important professional subject that is important to the safety of private and public information. Intellectuals in this sector require a flexible technique set that is adaptable to protect a company against several threats, e.g. cyber-attacks and cyber espionage.
There are five pillars of information assurance; integrity, availability, authentication, non-repudiation and confidentiality. Integrity as pillars ensures the assurance that generally, all the information systems get protection and are not altered. AI strategize to ensure integrity byways like; making sure that personnel using the information systems know how to correctly use them to reduce the attacks of viruses and malware. It also entails ensuring the network of information systems are uncompromised and intact.
Availability denotes that those who want to gain access to the information, are permitted to gain access it. Information should be availed to a few people who are apprised of the threats allied to information systems. Authentication entails making sure those who access the data are the legal persons. Methods of enhancing authentication are; strong passwords, biometrics, two-factor authentication and others.
Confidentiality entails the secrecy of information, pointing out that only the authorized people will view the report. Here, you have to put into consideration not only how to access the data but also the type of information to access. Only the authorized can access the information. Non-repudiation being the final pillar denotes that anyone accessing the information system cannot deny having acted as the system. There should be techniques and methods put in place to prove that they performed the said action.