The CIA triad is a common term referred to in the cybersecurity field. According to itgoverance.com, it is used when talking about these three things: confidentiality, integrity, and availability (IT Governance, 2025). The CIA triad is typically used as a guide and design when implementing various security practices in different systems. In short, it makes sure systems stay protected, accurate, and readily accessible. This triad is very important to the cybersecurity field because it includes the three most important parts of security in a system (Chai, 2022).
Confidentiality
Confidentiality means information in a system is protected via some type of protection method. Some examples are strong passwords, encryption, user authentication, etc. These methods ensure that any sensitive or confidential information in a system is protected from people that are unauthorized people or those with bad intentions. This is a key part of any system and is necessary for any system with important information on it.
Integrity
Integrity is the term used to describe whether a system’s information is accurate. If a system has low integrity, its information has a high possibility of being inaccurate, and vice versa for a system with high integrity. Integrity also refers to the data being complete and free from any deletion or tampering. This is a major component of a system. Every single result or analysis is dependent on the information having high integrity. Without this, not a single system would have trustworthy information.
Availability
Availability makes sure that every single part of a system is easily accessible when needed. This includes the system itself, the data, and any applications. This is important because it is very easy to focus on the confidentiality and integrity of a system and forget that the system still needs to be accessible. Having good availability can prevent a lot of downtime, help the flow and continuity of business, and boost productivity. The direct targeting of availability from DDoS attacks and various ransomware just puts an emphasis on how important availability is. Authentication and Authorization. The combination of confidentiality, integrity, and availability is what makes the CIA triad so strong. However, two smaller components are almost always taken into consideration when making systems. Authentication and authorization. These are very important to keep in mind when developing security in a system. Authentication is the verification process of whoever is trying to get into a system. Authorization, on the other hand, is what data a person has access to. These two things, combined with the CIA triad, make for a developed system with good security.
Conclusion
In summary, the CIA triad consists of three key principles of security. Confidentiality, how protected a system is; integrity, how accurate a system’s data is; and availability, how accessible a system and its data are. When it comes to authentication and authorization, the difference is that authentication focuses on who is getting in, and authorization focuses on what that person has access to. When a system includes the CIA triad with good authentication and authorization programs, the system will have great security practices. A perfect example of this is the ATM. The ATM has confidentiality through two-factor authentication, integrity through accurately recorded records, and availability because it is accessible 24/7 (Gipson, 2023).
References
• Chai, W. (2022, June). What is the CIA triad_ definition, explanation, examples-techtarget.pdf. TechTarget. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1898r4pGpKHN6bmKcwlxPdVZpCC6Moy8l/view
• Governance, I. (2025, June 18). What is the CIA triad and why is it important?. ITGovernance Blog. https://www.itgovernance.co.uk/blog/what-is-the-cia-triad-and-why-is-it-
important#:~:text=Confidentiality:%20Ensuring%20that%20sensitive%20data,when%20needed%20by%20authorised%20users.
• Gipson, K. (2023, January 19). The CIA triad: What is it?. CyberMaxx. https://www.cybermaxx.com/resources/what-is-the-cia-triad/