Gabi Hebert
CYSE200T
Professor Duvall
CIA Triad Write-up
The CIA Triad is a concept used in the cybersecurity field that guides policies for information security based on confidentiality, integrity, and availability (CIA). Confidentiality involves privacy and preventing sensitive information from being accessed by unauthorized users. The use of confidentiality is very important to this field considering cybersecurity involves highly classified and sensitive information. Integrity entails keeping consistent, accurate, and trustworthy data and ensures data is not compromised in transit. Availability refers to the accessibility and consistency of information and properly maintains hardware and technical infrastructures. This concept is important because it guarantees that data will be readily available to authorized users. Two additional terms that are important to the field of cyber security are authorization and authentication. Authorization involves a process that determines the extent of access that should be granted to an authorized user. An example of authorization is logging into an account and having an admin account versus an employee account. Admin user accounts will undoubtedly have additional actions and access to additional data. Authentication refers to the process of verifying the user’s identity. Examples of authentication include passwords, facial recognition, and two-factor authentication. The importance of authentication is to ensure that only authorized users have access to the system based on a unique form of identification. In conclusion, the CIA Triad and the concepts of authentication and authorization are extremely important to the field of cybersecurity. These concepts exist to continue strengthening and securing all information systems protected and overseen by cybersecurity professionals.
The Human Factor in Cybersecurity
As I have been put in the position as Chief Information Security Officer, I have decided to allocate 40% of the funds to employee training and the other 60% of funds to cybersecurity technology. This division of funds is important because cybersecurity issues are often caused by people and can be avoided through additional training. Similarly, it is even more important to invest in needed technology to protect systems and strengthen security.
According to the article Organizational Data Breaches 2005-2010: Applying SCP to the Healthcare and Education Sectors, Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) is a very good practice to incorporate to avoid accidental security breaches. I would integrate these practices into both the technology and the training protocols. This way there can be backup systems and guidelines for fixing issues and complications. The funds would be split 40/60 with 40% of it being devoted to training and the rest to technology to incorporate these practices.
In conclusion, allocating the funds this way is the most strategic and is crucial to handling both training and additional technology. By combining Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) practices into both our protocols and technology, security can be better protected and strengthened.
SCADA Systems
Critical infrastructure systems are potential targets of cyber attacks and are vulnerable to aging infrastructure, natural disasters, supply chain complications, and human defects. Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) applications are used to assist these systems to analyze data and respond to incidents in order to strengthen security. SCADA systems should be invested in because it is very reliable and effective for organizations needing to safeguard their infrastructure and protect it against threats.
According to the article from RedBot Security, some of the common vulnerabilities include cleartext protocols, default configuration, and insecure remote access (Buell). Similarly, the article from the website SCADA Systems mentions the most important vulnerabilities are unauthorized access to software and packet access to network segments. Cleartext protocols regard the outdated protocols that make the data more vulnerable to have unauthorized users steal and manipulate data. The default configuration factor has easily allowed attackers to research and access credentials which allow them to gain access to information. Insecure remote access should only be implemented when necessary in order to efficiently work without complications. In regards to unauthorized access to software mentioned by SCADA, human access can affect the control host machine and cause complications. There have also been cases related to packet access to network segments where there is little to no security.
SCADA monitors and controls infrastructure systems by providing mitigation procedures through numerous ways. For example, SCADA systems participate in real-time remediation to monitor any potential issues and the systems performance. It also collects data in order to create a data analysis and reports patterns and trends to predict possible issues. SCADA systems also have the ability to strengthen efficiency through automated control processes which can prevent human error.