Confidentiality, integrity, and availability; these three words mean more than you think.
These three words are very important to the field of cybersecurity and are required to be
incorporated in technology to be successful and ethical. They also make up what we call the CIA
Triad. The CIA Triad is in support of organizations to maintain trust and to not be vulnerable to
security risks. Providing these three aspects increases the act of risk management which brings
more security. There are many reasons why confidentiality, integrity, and availability is
beneficial to cybersecurity practices and organizational security.
Firstly, the purpose of confidentiality is to keep sensitive information private. Having
authorized access can avoid the information from getting out and from being misused. The act of
confidentiality can include using encryptions, trusted communication channels, and
authentication techniques. This decreases the chances of attacks and security threats from
occurring. It also keeps the trust between the organizations and others, for example customers
and partnerships. Once an organization is known for leaking private information it’s difficult to
come back from it, affecting their brand negatively long-time. The organization would also have
to deal with things from a legal perspective being that it is a law to protect information of
customers and other businesses that they’re working with.
Secondly, we have integrity which is good with making sure that data stays consistent
and accurate by preventing any unauthorized alterations. This should stay through transmission,
storage, and processing (CSN). This means even when information is sent from one location to
another that data should not be changed, when it is stored nothing should be deleted, and when
processing everything should be the same as the original. There are many times hackers try to get
in between the communication between two sides or individuals which is called Man in the
Middle attacks (CSN). Malware also known as malicious software can modify files, decreasing
the act of integrity. Integrity can avoid any misinformation to be in files and keeps track of who
had access to the files just in case something happens. Therefore, regularly scheduled data
backups, malware detection systems, and the requirements of signatures are good practices to put
in use.
The last aspect of the CIA Triad is availability. This ensures that the correct authorized
users are able to access any files or information when needed. When it comes to organizations,
this is critical because being without the systems to run the business can lead to lost opportunities
and lost respect. Updating hardware and software, implementing correlating mechanisms, using
traffic management tools, and creating disaster recovery plans are good counteractions to the
potential attacks or failures (CSN). Common threats to availability are Denial of Service (DOS).
This is where attackers overcrowd the system resulting in authorized users being unable to get
into it.
As an organization, you can put these three principles to use but there’s not a guarantee
that the attacks are entirely out of the picture. For example, last year in 2025, a third party vendor
leaked information from a healthcare company named “The Oncology Institute”. The institute
was a cancer care provider who operated among 100 clinics across the states; California, Nevada,
Oregon, Arizona, and Florida (Blacksmith). It was found that the vendor had unauthorized access
to systems that included patient data. This attack completely took away the act of confidentiality
in one of the most important places to have it. In the end, The Oncology Institute did not mention
how many patients were affected by the attack. Later on in 2026, the institute claimed that the
attack did not “materially affect company operations, financial systems, or the delivery of patient
care” (Blacksmith). They also still coordinate with the vendor about the incident. In this
situation, the company could have incorporated more defense mechanisms like using strong
encryption. They also should make smart decisions about who they want to be associated with.