{"id":302,"date":"2026-05-05T18:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/?p=302"},"modified":"2026-05-05T18:51:40","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T18:51:40","slug":"the-cia-triad-and-access-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/2026\/05\/05\/the-cia-triad-and-access-control\/","title":{"rendered":"The CIA Triad and Access Control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The CIA Triad\u2014Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability\u2014is foundational to cybersecurity and<br>is a key concept for companies seeking to protect their information systems (Chai, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authentication and authorization are two different processes that help protect the CIA Triad.<br>They work by verifying a user\u2019s identity and then deciding who can access certain resources.<br>Together, these processes support modern information security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"672\" height=\"401\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40417\/2026\/05\/CIA.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-307\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40417\/2026\/05\/CIA.png 672w, https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40417\/2026\/05\/CIA-300x179.png 300w, https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/40417\/2026\/05\/CIA-503x300.png 503w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Figure 1.<\/strong> This diagram represents the three core principles of cybersecurity: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authentication is the process of verifying whether a user is who they claim to be. It confirms a<br>person\u2019s identity and can be done using usernames and passwords, PINs, biometric scans,<br>security tokens, or two-factor authentication. For example, logging into a university\u2019s learning<br>management system is a form of authentication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Authorization<\/strong><br>Authorization decides what an authenticated user can and cannot do. It determines what a user is<br>allowed to access after their identity has been verified. Authorization controls include file<br>permissions, role-based access control (RBAC), and access control lists. For example, after<br>logging into Canvas, a student can view assignments and submit work, but they cannot edit<br>course content because they are not authorized to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Most Important Difference<\/strong><br>The primary difference between authentication and authorization is that authentication confirms<br>identity, while authorization grants access. Authentication is always the first step. A user must be<br>properly authenticated before authorization can occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion<br><\/strong>The CIA Triad is an important part of designing and understanding a cybersecurity plan.<br>Confidentiality protects private information, integrity ensures data accuracy, and availability<br>ensures systems remain accessible when needed. Authentication and authorization support these<br>ideas by verifying user identity and setting appropriate access controls. As the world becomes<br>increasingly digital, these concepts work together to help organizations build information<br>systems that are secure, reliable, and trustworthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><strong>References<\/strong><br>Chai, W. (2022). What is the CIA triad? Definition, explanation, examples. TechTarget.<br>https:\/\/www.techtarget.com\/whatis\/definition\/Confidentiality-integrity-and-availability-CIA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CIA Triad\u2014Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability\u2014is foundational to cybersecurity andis a key concept for companies seeking to protect their information systems (Chai, 2022). Authentication and authorization are two different processes that help protect the CIA Triad.They work by verifying a user\u2019s identity and then deciding who can access certain resources.Together, these processes support modern information&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/2026\/05\/05\/the-cia-triad-and-access-control\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31904,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31904"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":309,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302\/revisions\/309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/rksana\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}