125-433: Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data or the unlawful use, disclosure , disruption, deletion, corruption, modification, inspection, recording, or devaluation of information. It also involves actions intended to reduce
250-574: A knowledge worker in performing research and making decisions, including steps such as: Stewart (2001) argues that transformation of information into knowledge is critical, lying at the core of value creation and competitive advantage for the modern enterprise. In a biological framework, Mizraji has described information as an entity emerging from the interaction of patterns with receptor systems (eg: in molecular or neural receptors capable of interacting with specific patterns, information emerges from those interactions). In addition, he has incorporated
375-418: A "lucky winner" is sent a free digital audio player compromising any computer it is plugged to. A " road apple " (the colloquial term for horse manure , suggesting the device's undesirable nature) is any removable media with malicious software left in opportunistic or conspicuous places. It may be a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive , among other media. Curious people take it and plug it into a computer, infecting
500-418: A balance between productivity, cost, effectiveness of the countermeasure, and the value of the informational asset being protected. Furthermore, these processes have limitations as security breaches are generally rare and emerge in a specific context which may not be easily duplicated. Thus, any process and countermeasure should itself be evaluated for vulnerabilities. It is not possible to identify all risks, nor
625-473: A business's customers or finances or new product line fall into the hands of a competitor or hacker , a business and its customers could suffer widespread, irreparable financial loss, as well as damage to the company's reputation. From a business perspective, information security must be balanced against cost; the Gordon-Loeb Model provides a mathematical economic approach for addressing this concern. For
750-417: A claim of identity. When John Doe goes into a bank to make a withdrawal, he tells the bank teller he is John Doe, a claim of identity. The bank teller asks to see a photo ID, so he hands the teller his driver's license . The bank teller checks the license to make sure it has John Doe printed on it and compares the photograph on the license against the person claiming to be John Doe. If the photo and name match
875-400: A claim of who they are. However, their claim may or may not be true. Before John Doe can be granted access to protected information it will be necessary to verify that the person claiming to be John Doe really is John Doe. Typically the claim is in the form of a username. By entering that username you are claiming "I am the person the username belongs to". Authentication is the act of verifying
1000-486: A computer without having a file opened. Of the 297 drives that were dropped, 290 (98%) of them were picked up and 135 (45%) of them "called home". In common law , pretexting is an invasion of privacy tort of appropriation. In December 2006, United States Congress approved a Senate sponsored bill making the pretexting of telephone records a federal felony with fines of up to $ 250,000 and ten years in prison for individuals (or fines of up to $ 500,000 for companies). It
1125-499: A flood of incoming messages to the target system, essentially forcing it to shut down. In the realm of information security, availability can often be viewed as one of the most important parts of a successful information security program. Ultimately end-users need to be able to perform job functions; by ensuring availability an organization is able to perform to the standards that an organization's stakeholders expect. This can involve topics such as proxy configurations, outside web access,
1250-435: A function must exist, even if it is not accessible for humans; A view surmised by Albert Einstein with the assertion that " God does not play dice ". Modern astronomy cites the mechanical sense of information in the black hole information paradox , positing that, because the complete evaporation of a black hole into Hawking radiation leaves nothing except an expanding cloud of homogeneous particles, this results in
1375-411: A link in an unsolicited email, but the same person would not hesitate to follow a link on a website they often visit. So, the attacker prepares a trap for the unwary prey at a favored watering hole. This strategy has been successfully used to gain access to some (supposedly) very secure systems. Baiting is like the real-world Trojan horse that uses physical media and relies on the curiosity or greed of
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#17330848869441500-456: A more continuous form. Information is not knowledge itself, but the meaning that may be derived from a representation through interpretation. The concept of information is relevant or connected to various concepts, including constraint , communication , control , data , form , education , knowledge , meaning , understanding , mental stimuli , pattern , perception , proposition , representation , and entropy . Information
1625-434: A nutritional function. The cognitive scientist and applied mathematician Ronaldo Vigo argues that information is a concept that requires at least two related entities to make quantitative sense. These are, any dimensionally defined category of objects S, and any of its subsets R. R, in essence, is a representation of S, or, in other words, conveys representational (and hence, conceptual) information about S. Vigo then defines
1750-502: A payment in exchange for returning the information or property back to its owner, as with ransomware . One of the most functional precautions against these attacks is to conduct periodical user awareness. Governments , military , corporations , financial institutions , hospitals , non-profit organisations, and private businesses amass a great deal of confidential information about their employees, customers, products, research, and financial status. Should confidential information about
1875-475: A person to take an action that may or may not be in their best interests." Research done in 2020 has indicated that social engineering will be one of the most prominent challenges of the upcoming decade. Having proficiency in social engineering will be increasingly important for organizations and countries, due to the impact on geopolitics as well. Social engineering raises the question of whether our decisions will be accurately informed if our primary information
2000-553: A posed question. Whether the answer provides knowledge depends on the informed person. So a generalized definition of the concept should be: "Information" = An answer to a specific question". When Marshall McLuhan speaks of media and their effects on human cultures, he refers to the structure of artifacts that in turn shape our behaviors and mindsets. Also, pheromones are often said to be "information" in this sense. These sections are using measurements of data rather than information, as information cannot be directly measured. It
2125-417: A tool for security professionals to examine security from a systems perspective, creating an environment where security can be managed holistically, allowing actual risks to be addressed. The type of information security classification labels selected and used will depend on the nature of the organization, with examples being: All employees in the organization, as well as business partners, must be trained on
2250-398: A type of input to an organism or system . Inputs are of two kinds; some inputs are important to the function of the organism (for example, food) or system ( energy ) by themselves. In his book Sensory Ecology biophysicist David B. Dusenbery called these causal inputs. Other inputs (information) are important only because they are associated with causal inputs and can be used to predict
2375-901: Is entropy . Entropy quantifies the amount of uncertainty involved in the value of a random variable or the outcome of a random process . For example, identifying the outcome of a fair coin flip (with two equally likely outcomes) provides less information (lower entropy) than specifying the outcome from a roll of a die (with six equally likely outcomes). Some other important measures in information theory are mutual information , channel capacity, error exponents , and relative entropy . Important sub-fields of information theory include source coding , algorithmic complexity theory , algorithmic information theory , and information-theoretic security . Applications of fundamental topics of information theory include source coding/ data compression (e.g. for ZIP files ), and channel coding/ error detection and correction (e.g. for DSL ). Its impact has been crucial to
2500-434: Is a major concept in both classical physics and quantum mechanics , encompassing the ability, real or theoretical, of an agent to predict the future state of a system based on knowledge gathered during its past and present. Determinism is a philosophical theory holding that causal determination can predict all future events, positing a fully predictable universe described by classical physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace as "
2625-504: Is a set that the sender and receiver of information must know before exchanging information. Digital information, for example, consists of building blocks that are all number sequences. Each number sequence represents a selection from its domain. The sender and receiver of digital information (number sequences) must know the domain and binary format of each number sequence before exchanging information. By defining number sequences online, this would be systematically and universally usable. Before
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#17330848869442750-555: Is accessed, processed, stored, transferred, and destroyed. While paper-based business operations are still prevalent, requiring their own set of information security practices, enterprise digital initiatives are increasingly being emphasized, with information assurance now typically being dealt with by information technology (IT) security specialists. These specialists apply information security to technology (most often some form of computer system). IT security specialists are almost always found in any major enterprise/establishment due to
2875-420: Is always conveyed as the content of a message. Information can be encoded into various forms for transmission and interpretation (for example, information may be encoded into a sequence of signs , or transmitted via a signal ). It can also be encrypted for safe storage and communication. The uncertainty of an event is measured by its probability of occurrence. Uncertainty is inversely proportional to
3000-532: Is an uncountable mass noun . Information theory is the scientific study of the quantification , storage , and communication of information. The field itself was fundamentally established by the work of Claude Shannon in the 1940s, with earlier contributions by Harry Nyquist and Ralph Hartley in the 1920s. The field is at the intersection of probability theory , statistics , computer science, statistical mechanics , information engineering , and electrical engineering . A key measure in information theory
3125-450: Is available, the analysis may use quantitative analysis. Research has shown that the most vulnerable point in most information systems is the human user, operator, designer, or other human. The ISO/IEC 27002:2005 Code of practice for information security management recommends the following be examined during a risk assessment: In broad terms, the risk management process consists of: For any given risk, management can choose to accept
3250-437: Is engineered and biased. Social engineering attacks have been increasing in intensity and number, cementing the need for novel detection techniques and cyber security educational programs. All social engineering techniques are based on attributes of human decision-making known as cognitive biases . One example of social engineering is an individual who walks into a building and posts an official-looking announcement to
3375-472: Is estimated that the world's technological capacity to store information grew from 2.6 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 1986 – which is the informational equivalent to less than one 730-MB CD-ROM per person (539 MB per person) – to 295 (optimally compressed) exabytes in 2007. This is the informational equivalent of almost 61 CD-ROM per person in 2007. The world's combined technological capacity to receive information through one-way broadcast networks
3500-416: Is forecast to increase rapidly, reaching 64.2 zettabytes in 2020. Over the next five years up to 2025, global data creation is projected to grow to more than 180 zettabytes. Records are specialized forms of information. Essentially, records are information produced consciously or as by-products of business activities or transactions and retained because of their value. Primarily, their value is as evidence of
3625-429: Is it possible to eliminate all risk. The remaining risk is called "residual risk". A risk assessment is carried out by a team of people who have knowledge of specific areas of the business. Membership of the team may vary over time as different parts of the business are assessed. The assessment may use a subjective qualitative analysis based on informed opinion, or where reliable dollar figures and historical information
3750-444: Is largely achieved through a structured risk management process. To standardize this discipline, academics and professionals collaborate to offer guidance, policies, and industry standards on passwords , antivirus software , firewalls , encryption software , legal liability , security awareness and training, and so forth. This standardization may be further driven by a wide variety of laws and regulations that affect how data
3875-546: Is legal to sell telephone records, but illegal to obtain them. U.S. Rep. Fred Upton (R- Kalamazoo , Michigan), chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, expressed concern over the easy access to personal mobile phone records on the Internet during a House Energy & Commerce Committee hearing on " Phone Records For Sale: Why Aren't Phone Records Safe From Pretexting? " Illinois became
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4000-451: Is log 2 (4/1) = 2 bits. A 2011 Science article estimates that 97% of technologically stored information was already in digital bits in 2007 and that the year 2002 was the beginning of the digital age for information storage (with digital storage capacity bypassing analogue for the first time). Information can be defined exactly by set theory: "Information is a selection from the domain of information". The "domain of information"
4125-422: Is mainly (but not only, e.g. plants can grow in the direction of the light source) a causal input to plants but for animals it only provides information. The colored light reflected from a flower is too weak for photosynthesis but the visual system of the bee detects it and the bee's nervous system uses the information to guide the bee to the flower, where the bee often finds nectar or pollen, which are causal inputs,
4250-414: Is often processed iteratively: Data available at one step are processed into information to be interpreted and processed at the next step. For example, in written text each symbol or letter conveys information relevant to the word it is part of, each word conveys information relevant to the phrase it is part of, each phrase conveys information relevant to the sentence it is part of, and so on until at
4375-438: Is put to use when the business subsequently wants to identify the most popular or least popular dish. Information can be transmitted in time, via data storage , and space, via communication and telecommunication . Information is expressed either as the content of a message or through direct or indirect observation . That which is perceived can be construed as a message in its own right, and in that sense, all information
4500-400: Is sufficient to address rapidly changing technology and business requirements, with recommendations to consider expanding on the intersections between availability and confidentiality, as well as the relationship between security and privacy. Other principles such as "accountability" have sometimes been proposed; it has been pointed out that issues such as non-repudiation do not fit well within
4625-433: Is the attempt to act as someone else usually to obtain that person's personal information or to take advantage of their access to vital information through social engineering . Sabotage usually consists of the destruction of an organization's website in an attempt to cause loss of confidence on the part of its customers. Information extortion consists of theft of a company's property or information as an attempt to receive
4750-456: The 2017 Equifax data breach in which over 150 million private records were leaked (including Social Security numbers , and drivers license numbers, birthdates, etc.), warnings were sent out regarding the dangers of impending security risks. In the day after the establishment of a legitimate help website (equifaxsecurity2017.com) dedicated to people potentially victimized by the breach, 194 malicious domains were reserved from small variations on
4875-470: The ARPANET project was formulated by Larry Roberts , which would later evolve into what is known as the internet . In 1973, important elements of ARPANET security were found by internet pioneer Robert Metcalfe to have many flaws such as the: "vulnerability of password structure and formats; lack of safety procedures for dial-up connections ; and nonexistent user identification and authorizations", aside from
5000-603: The Caesar cipher c. 50 B.C., which was created in order to prevent his secret messages from being read should a message fall into the wrong hands. However, for the most part protection was achieved through the application of procedural handling controls. Sensitive information was marked up to indicate that it should be protected and transported by trusted persons, guarded and stored in a secure environment or strong box. As postal services expanded, governments created official organizations to intercept, decipher, read, and reseal letters (e.g.,
5125-660: The Cold War to complete more sophisticated tasks, in a communication process easier than mailing magnetic tapes back and forth by computer centers. As such, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), of the United States Department of Defense , started researching the feasibility of a networked system of communication to trade information within the United States Armed Forces . In 1968,
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5250-520: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee , implanting malware in them, which caused their computer activities to be monitored and leaked. Two tech giants— Google and Facebook —were phished out of $ 100 million by a Lithuanian fraudster. He impersonated a hardware supplier to falsely invoice both companies over two years. Despite their technological sophistication, the companies lost the money. On 24 November 2014 ,
5375-668: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). This federal agency has the obligation and authority to ensure that consumers are not subjected to any unfair or deceptive business practices. US Federal Trade Commission Act, Section 5 of the FTCA states, in part: "Whenever the Commission shall have reason to believe that any such person, partnership, or corporation has been or is using any unfair method of competition or unfair or deceptive act or practice in or affecting commerce, and if it shall appear to
5500-581: The NIST 's Engineering Principles for Information Technology Security proposed 33 principles. In 1998, Donn Parker proposed an alternative model for the classic "CIA" triad that he called the six atomic elements of information . The elements are confidentiality , possession , integrity , authenticity , availability , and utility . The merits of the Parkerian Hexad are a subject of debate amongst security professionals. In 2011, The Open Group published
5625-565: The NIST Cybersecurity Framework . Information security threats come in many different forms. Some of the most common threats today are software attacks, theft of intellectual property, theft of identity, theft of equipment or information, sabotage, and information extortion. Viruses , worms , phishing attacks , and Trojan horses are a few common examples of software attacks. The theft of intellectual property has also been an extensive issue for many businesses. Identity theft
5750-549: The hacker group " Guardians of Peace " leaked confidential data from the film studio Sony Pictures Entertainment . The data included emails, executive salaries, and employees' personal and family information. The phishers pretended to be high up employees to install malware on workers' computers. Susan Headley became involved in phreaking with Kevin Mitnick and Lewis de Payne in Los Angeles , but later framed them for erasing
5875-420: The "CIA" triad to be provided effectively. In addition to the classic CIA triad of security goals, some organisations may want to include security goals like authenticity, accountability, non-repudiation, and reliability. In law, non-repudiation implies one's intention to fulfill their obligations to a contract. It also implies that one party of a transaction cannot deny having received a transaction, nor can
6000-408: The 1990s using social engineering, voice impersonation, and Braille-display computers . Christopher J. Hadnagy is an American social engineer and information technology security consultant. He is best known as an author of 4 books on social engineering and cyber security and founder of Innocent Lives Foundation, an organization that helps tracking and identifying child trafficking by seeking
6125-402: The Commission that a proceeding by it in respect thereof would be to the interest of the public, it shall issue and serve upon such person, partnership, or corporation a complaint stating its charges in that respect." The statute states that when someone obtains any personal, non-public information from a financial institution or the consumer, their action is subject to the statute. It relates to
6250-630: The U.K.'s Secret Office, founded in 1653). In the mid-nineteenth century more complex classification systems were developed to allow governments to manage their information according to the degree of sensitivity. For example, the British Government codified this, to some extent, with the publication of the Official Secrets Act in 1889. Section 1 of the law concerned espionage and unlawful disclosures of information, while Section 2 dealt with breaches of official trust. A public interest defense
6375-601: The URL, capitalizing on the likelihood of people mistyping. During the 2016 United States Elections , hackers associated with Russian Military Intelligence (GRU) sent phishing emails directed to members of Hillary Clinton 's campaign, disguised as a Google alert. Many members, including the chairman of the campaign, John Podesta , had entered their passwords thinking it would be reset, causing their personal information, and thousands of private emails and documents to be leaked. With this information, they hacked into other computers in
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#17330848869446500-467: The ability to access shared drives and the ability to send emails. Executives oftentimes do not understand the technical side of information security and look at availability as an easy fix, but this often requires collaboration from many different organizational teams, such as network operations, development operations, incident response, and policy/change management. A successful information security team involves many different key roles to mesh and align for
6625-435: The activities of the organization but they may also be retained for their informational value. Sound records management ensures that the integrity of records is preserved for as long as they are required. The international standard on records management, ISO 15489, defines records as "information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in
6750-449: The adverse impacts of such incidents. Protected information may take any form, e.g., electronic or physical, tangible (e.g., paperwork ), or intangible (e.g., knowledge ). Information security's primary focus is the balanced protection of data confidentiality , integrity , and availability (also known as the 'CIA' triad) while maintaining a focus on efficient policy implementation, all without hampering organization productivity . This
6875-419: The amount of information that R conveys about S as the rate of change in the complexity of S whenever the objects in R are removed from S. Under "Vigo information", pattern, invariance, complexity, representation, and information – five fundamental constructs of universal science – are unified under a novel mathematical framework. Among other things, the framework aims to overcome
7000-400: The asset). A vulnerability is a weakness that could be used to endanger or cause harm to an informational asset. A threat is anything (man-made or act of nature ) that has the potential to cause harm. The likelihood that a threat will use a vulnerability to cause harm creates a risk. When a threat does use a vulnerability to inflict harm, it has an impact. In the context of information security,
7125-401: The association between signs and behaviour. Semantics can be considered as the study of the link between symbols and their referents or concepts – particularly the way that signs relate to human behavior. Syntax is concerned with the formalism used to represent a message. Syntax as an area studies the form of communication in terms of the logic and grammar of sign systems. Syntax is devoted to
7250-427: The biological order and participating in the development of multicellular organisms, precedes by millions of years the emergence of human consciousness and the creation of the scientific culture that produced the chemical nomenclature. Systems theory at times seems to refer to information in this sense, assuming information does not necessarily involve any conscious mind, and patterns circulating (due to feedback ) in
7375-407: The board. Dunn acknowledged that the company used the practice of pretexting to solicit the telephone records of board members and journalists. Chairman Dunn later apologized for this act and offered to step down from the board if it was desired by board members. Unlike Federal law, California law specifically forbids such pretexting. The four felony charges brought on Dunn were dismissed. Following
7500-403: The chosen language in terms of its agreed syntax and semantics. The sender codes the message in the language and sends the message as signals along some communication channel (empirics). The chosen communication channel has inherent properties that determine outcomes such as the speed at which communication can take place, and over what distance. The existence of information about a closed system
7625-633: The claim that the signature necessarily proves authenticity and integrity. As such, the sender may repudiate the message (because authenticity and integrity are pre-requisites for non-repudiation). In 1992 and revised in 2002, the OECD 's Guidelines for the Security of Information Systems and Networks proposed the nine generally accepted principles: awareness , responsibility, response, ethics, democracy, risk assessment, security design and implementation, security management, and reassessment. Building upon those, in 2004
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#17330848869447750-514: The classification schema and understand the required security controls and handling procedures for each classification. The classification of a particular information asset that has been assigned should be reviewed periodically to ensure the classification is still appropriate for the information and to ensure the security controls required by the classification are in place and are followed in their right procedures. Access to protected information must be restricted to people who are authorized to access
7875-614: The common goals of ensuring the security and reliability of information systems . The "CIA triad" of c onfidentiality, i ntegrity, and a vailability is at the heart of information security. The concept was introduced in the Anderson Report in 1972 and later repeated in The Protection of Information in Computer Systems . The abbreviation was coined by Steve Lipner around 1986. Debate continues about whether or not this triad
8000-414: The company bulletin that says the number for the help desk has changed. So, when employees call for help the individual asks them for their passwords and IDs thereby gaining the ability to access the company's private information. Another example of social engineering would be that the hacker contacts the target on a social networking site and starts a conversation with the target. Gradually the hacker gains
8125-521: The computation and digital representation of data, and assists users in pattern recognition and anomaly detection . Information security (shortened as InfoSec) is the ongoing process of exercising due diligence to protect information, and information systems, from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, destruction, modification, disruption or distribution, through algorithms and procedures focused on monitoring and detection, as well as incident response and repair. Social engineering (security) In
8250-471: The consumer's relationship with the financial institution. For example, a pretexter using false pretenses either to get a consumer's address from the consumer's bank, or to get a consumer to disclose the name of their bank, would be covered. The determining principle is that pretexting only occurs when information is obtained through false pretenses. While the sale of cell telephone records has gained significant media attention, and telecommunications records are
8375-440: The context of information security , social engineering is the psychological manipulation of people into performing actions or divulging confidential information . A type of confidence trick for the purpose of information gathering, fraud, or system access, it differs from a traditional "con" in the sense that it is often one of the many steps in a more complex fraud scheme. It has also been defined as "any act that influences
8500-415: The context of some social situation. The social situation sets the context for the intentions conveyed (pragmatics) and the form of communication. In a communicative situation intentions are expressed through messages that comprise collections of inter-related signs taken from a language mutually understood by the agents involved in the communication. Mutual understanding implies that agents involved understand
8625-406: The control mechanisms need to be. The foundation on which access control mechanisms are built start with identification and authentication . Access control is generally considered in three steps: identification, authentication , and authorization . Identification is an assertion of who someone is or what something is. If a person makes the statement "Hello, my name is John Doe " they are making
8750-458: The core, surrounded by people, network security, host-based security, and application security layers. The strategy emphasizes that security involves not just technology, but also people and processes working together, with real-time monitoring and response being crucial components. An important aspect of information security and risk management is recognizing the value of information and defining appropriate procedures and protection requirements for
8875-636: The different classification labels, define the criteria for information to be assigned a particular label, and list the required security controls for each classification. Some factors that influence which classification information should be assigned include how much value that information has to the organization, how old the information is and whether or not the information has become obsolete. Laws and other regulatory requirements are also important considerations when classifying information. The Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) and its Business Model for Information Security also serves as
9000-588: The early 1980s enabled different types of computers to communicate. These computers quickly became interconnected through the internet . The rapid growth and widespread use of electronic data processing and electronic business conducted through the internet, along with numerous occurrences of international terrorism , fueled the need for better methods of protecting the computers and the information they store, process, and transmit. The academic disciplines of computer security and information assurance emerged along with numerous professional organizations, all sharing
9125-401: The effect of its past and the cause of its future ". Quantum physics instead encodes information as a wave function , which prevents observers from directly identifying all of its possible measurements . Prior to the publication of Bell's theorem , determinists reconciled with this behavior using hidden variable theories , which argued that the information necessary to predict the future of
9250-437: The exchanged digital number sequence, an efficient unique link to its online definition can be set. This online-defined digital information (number sequence) would be globally comparable and globally searchable. The English word "information" comes from Middle French enformacion/informacion/information 'a criminal investigation' and its etymon, Latin informatiō(n) 'conception, teaching, creation'. In English, "information"
9375-417: The final step information is interpreted and becomes knowledge in a given domain . In a digital signal , bits may be interpreted into the symbols, letters, numbers, or structures that convey the information available at the next level up. The key characteristic of information is that it is subject to interpretation and processing. The derivation of information from a signal or message may be thought of as
9500-954: The first state to sue an online records broker when Attorney General Lisa Madigan sued 1st Source Information Specialists, Inc. A spokeswoman for Madigan's office said. The Florida-based company operates several Web sites that sell mobile telephone records, according to a copy of the suit. The attorneys general of Florida and Missouri quickly followed Madigan's lead, filing suits respectively, against 1st Source Information Specialists and, in Missouri's case, one other records broker – First Data Solutions, Inc. Several wireless providers, including T-Mobile, Verizon, and Cingular filed earlier lawsuits against records brokers, with Cingular winning an injunction against First Data Solutions and 1st Source Information Specialists. U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) introduced legislation in February 2006 aimed at curbing
9625-479: The focus of the two bills currently before the United States Senate , many other types of private records are being bought and sold in the public market. Alongside many advertisements for cell phone records, wireline records and the records associated with calling cards are advertised. As individuals shift to VoIP telephones, it is safe to assume that those records will be offered for sale as well. Currently, it
9750-448: The formation and development of an organism without any need for a conscious mind. One might argue though that for a human to consciously define a pattern, for example a nucleotide, naturally involves conscious information processing. However, the existence of unicellular and multicellular organisms, with the complex biochemistry that leads, among other events, to the existence of enzymes and polynucleotides that interact maintaining
9875-500: The host and any attached networks. Again, hackers may give them enticing labels, such as "Employee Salaries" or "Confidential". One study published in 2016 had researchers drop 297 USB drives around the campus of the University of Illinois. The drives contained files on them that linked to webpages owned by the researchers. The researchers were able to see how many of the drives had files on them opened, but not how many were inserted into
10000-401: The idea of "information catalysts", structures where emerging information promotes the transition from pattern recognition to goal-directed action (for example, the specific transformation of a substrate into a product by an enzyme, or auditory reception of words and the production of an oral response) The Danish Dictionary of Information Terms argues that information only provides an answer to
10125-500: The impact is a loss of availability, integrity, and confidentiality, and possibly other losses (lost income, loss of life, loss of real property). The Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) Review Manual 2006 defines risk management as "the process of identifying vulnerabilities and threats to the information resources used by an organization in achieving business objectives, and deciding what countermeasures , if any, to take in reducing risk to an acceptable level, based on
10250-554: The incorrect individuals. In IT security, data integrity means maintaining and assuring the accuracy and completeness of data over its entire lifecycle. This means that data cannot be modified in an unauthorized or undetected manner. This is not the same thing as referential integrity in databases , although it can be viewed as a special case of consistency as understood in the classic ACID model of transaction processing . Information security systems typically incorporate controls to ensure their own integrity, in particular protecting
10375-413: The individual, information security has a significant effect on privacy , which is viewed very differently in various cultures . Since the early days of communication, diplomats and military commanders understood that it was necessary to provide some mechanism to protect the confidentiality of correspondence and to have some means of detecting tampering . Julius Caesar is credited with the invention of
10500-497: The information must be available when it is needed. This means the computing systems used to store and process the information, the security controls used to protect it, and the communication channels used to access it must be functioning correctly. High availability systems aim to remain available at all times, preventing service disruptions due to power outages, hardware failures, and system upgrades. Ensuring availability also involves preventing denial-of-service attacks , such as
10625-618: The information of a user or organization. This environment includes users themselves, networks, devices, all software, processes, information in storage or transit, applications, services, and systems that can be connected directly or indirectly to networks. The principal objective is to reduce the risks, including preventing or mitigating attacks. These published materials consist of tools, policies, security concepts, security safeguards, guidelines, risk management approaches, actions, training, best practices, assurance and technologies. Common information security standards include ISO/IEC 27001 and
10750-401: The information security management standard O-ISM3 . This standard proposed an operational definition of the key concepts of security, with elements called "security objectives", related to access control (9), availability (3), data quality (1), compliance, and technical (4). Risk is the likelihood that something bad will happen that causes harm to an informational asset (or the loss of
10875-399: The information. Not all information is equal and so not all information requires the same degree of protection. This requires information to be assigned a security classification . The first step in information classification is to identify a member of senior management as the owner of the particular information to be classified. Next, develop a classification policy. The policy should describe
11000-399: The information. The computer programs, and in many cases the computers that process the information, must also be authorized. This requires that mechanisms be in place to control the access to protected information. The sophistication of the access control mechanisms should be in parity with the value of the information being protected; the more sensitive or valuable the information the stronger
11125-895: The irrecoverability of any information about the matter to have originally crossed the event horizon , violating both classical and quantum assertions against the ability to destroy information. The information cycle (addressed as a whole or in its distinct components) is of great concern to information technology , information systems , as well as information science . These fields deal with those processes and techniques pertaining to information capture (through sensors ) and generation (through computation , formulation or composition), processing (including encoding, encryption, compression, packaging), transmission (including all telecommunication methods), presentation (including visualization / display methods), storage (such as magnetic or optical, including holographic methods ), etc. Information visualization (shortened as InfoVis) depends on
11250-403: The issue of signs with the context within which signs are used. The focus of pragmatics is on the intentions of living agents underlying communicative behaviour. In other words, pragmatics link language to action. Semantics is concerned with the meaning of a message conveyed in a communicative act. Semantics considers the content of communication. Semantics is the study of the meaning of signs –
11375-699: The kernel or core functions against both deliberate and accidental threats. Multi-purpose and multi-user computer systems aim to compartmentalize the data and processing such that no user or process can adversely impact another: the controls may not succeed however, as we see in incidents such as malware infections, hacks, data theft, fraud, and privacy breaches. More broadly, integrity is an information security principle that involves human/social, process, and commercial integrity, as well as data integrity. As such it touches on aspects such as credibility, consistency, truthfulness, completeness, accuracy, timeliness, and assurance. For any information system to serve its purpose,
11500-407: The lack of controls and safeguards to keep data safe from unauthorized access. Hackers had effortless access to ARPANET, as phone numbers were known by the public. Due to these problems, coupled with the constant violation of computer security, as well as the exponential increase in the number of hosts and users of the system, "network security" was often alluded to as "network insecurity". The end of
11625-411: The limitations of Shannon-Weaver information when attempting to characterize and measure subjective information. Information is any type of pattern that influences the formation or transformation of other patterns. In this sense, there is no need for a conscious mind to perceive, much less appreciate, the pattern. Consider, for example, DNA . The sequence of nucleotides is a pattern that influences
11750-422: The message, and nobody else could have altered it in transit ( data integrity ). The alleged sender could in return demonstrate that the digital signature algorithm is vulnerable or flawed, or allege or prove that his signing key has been compromised. The fault for these violations may or may not lie with the sender, and such assertions may or may not relieve the sender of liability, but the assertion would invalidate
11875-519: The most fundamental level, it pertains to the interpretation (perhaps formally ) of that which may be sensed , or their abstractions . Any natural process that is not completely random and any observable pattern in any medium can be said to convey some amount of information. Whereas digital signals and other data use discrete signs to convey information, other phenomena and artifacts such as analogue signals , poems , pictures , music or other sounds , and currents convey information in
12000-438: The multi-faceted concept of information in terms of signs and signal-sign systems. Signs themselves can be considered in terms of four inter-dependent levels, layers or branches of semiotics : pragmatics, semantics, syntax, and empirics. These four layers serve to connect the social world on the one hand with the physical or technical world on the other. Pragmatics is concerned with the purpose of communication. Pragmatics links
12125-735: The nature and value of the data within larger businesses. They are responsible for keeping all of the technology within the company secure from malicious attacks that often attempt to acquire critical private information or gain control of the internal systems. There are many specialist roles in Information Security including securing networks and allied infrastructure , securing applications and databases , security testing , information systems auditing , business continuity planning , electronic record discovery, and digital forensics . Information security standards are techniques generally outlined in published materials that attempt to protect
12250-436: The occurrence of a causal input at a later time (and perhaps another place). Some information is important because of association with other information but eventually there must be a connection to a causal input. In practice, information is usually carried by weak stimuli that must be detected by specialized sensory systems and amplified by energy inputs before they can be functional to the organism or system. For example, light
12375-594: The organization or to meet legal, fiscal or accountability requirements imposed on the organization. Willis expressed the view that sound management of business records and information delivered "...six key requirements for good corporate governance ...transparency; accountability; due process; compliance; meeting statutory and common law requirements; and security of personal and corporate information." Michael Buckland has classified "information" in terms of its uses: "information as process", "information as knowledge", and "information as thing". Beynon-Davies explains
12500-773: The organization. ISO/IEC 27002 offers a guideline for organizational information security standards. Defense in depth is a fundamental security philosophy that relies on overlapping security systems designed to maintain protection even if individual components fail. Rather than depending on a single security measure, it combines multiple layers of security controls both in the cloud and at network endpoints. This approach includes combinations like firewalls with intrusion-detection systems, email filtering services with desktop anti-virus, and cloud-based security alongside traditional network defenses. The concept can be implemented through three distinct layers of administrative, logical, and physical controls, or visualized as an onion model with data at
12625-413: The other party deny having sent a transaction. It is important to note that while technology such as cryptographic systems can assist in non-repudiation efforts, the concept is at its core a legal concept transcending the realm of technology. It is not, for instance, sufficient to show that the message matches a digital signature signed with the sender's private key, and thus only the sender could have sent
12750-422: The person, then the teller has authenticated that John Doe is who he claimed to be. Similarly, by entering the correct password, the user is providing evidence that he/she is the person the username belongs to. There are three different types of information that can be used for authentication: Information Information is an abstract concept that refers to something which has the power to inform . At
12875-451: The practice. The Consumer Telephone Records Protection Act of 2006 would create felony criminal penalties for stealing and selling the records of mobile phone, landline , and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) subscribers. Patricia Dunn , former chairwoman of Hewlett Packard , reported that the HP board hired a private investigation company to delve into who was responsible for leaks within
13000-423: The probability of occurrence. Information theory takes advantage of this by concluding that more uncertain events require more information to resolve their uncertainty. The bit is a typical unit of information . It is 'that which reduces uncertainty by half'. Other units such as the nat may be used. For example, the information encoded in one "fair" coin flip is log 2 (2/1) = 1 bit, and in two fair coin flips
13125-487: The resolution of ambiguity or uncertainty that arises during the interpretation of patterns within the signal or message. Information may be structured as data . Redundant data can be compressed up to an optimal size, which is the theoretical limit of compression. The information available through a collection of data may be derived by analysis. For example, a restaurant collects data from every customer order. That information may be analyzed to produce knowledge that
13250-475: The risk based upon the relative low value of the asset, the relative low frequency of occurrence, and the relative low impact on the business. Or, leadership may choose to mitigate the risk by selecting and implementing appropriate control measures to reduce the risk. In some cases, the risk can be transferred to another business by buying insurance or outsourcing to another business. The reality of some risks may be disputed. In such cases leadership may choose to deny
13375-484: The risk. Selecting and implementing proper security controls will initially help an organization bring down risk to acceptable levels. Control selection should follow and should be based on the risk assessment. Controls can vary in nature, but fundamentally they are ways of protecting the confidentiality, integrity or availability of information. ISO/IEC 27001 has defined controls in different areas. Organizations can implement additional controls according to requirement of
13500-471: The specific context associated with this interpretation may cause the transformation of the information into knowledge . Complex definitions of both "information" and "knowledge" make such semantic and logical analysis difficult, but the condition of "transformation" is an important point in the study of information as it relates to knowledge, especially in the business discipline of knowledge management . In this practice, tools and processes are used to assist
13625-418: The study of the form rather than the content of signs and sign systems. Nielsen (2008) discusses the relationship between semiotics and information in relation to dictionaries. He introduces the concept of lexicographic information costs and refers to the effort a user of a dictionary must make to first find, and then understand data so that they can generate information. Communication normally exists within
13750-664: The success of the Voyager missions to deep space, the invention of the compact disc , the feasibility of mobile phones and the development of the Internet. The theory has also found applications in other areas, including statistical inference , cryptography , neurobiology , perception , linguistics, the evolution and function of molecular codes ( bioinformatics ), thermal physics , quantum computing , black holes , information retrieval , intelligence gathering , plagiarism detection , pattern recognition , anomaly detection and even art creation. Often information can be viewed as
13875-434: The system can be called information. In other words, it can be said that information in this sense is something potentially perceived as representation, though not created or presented for that purpose. For example, Gregory Bateson defines "information" as a "difference that makes a difference". If, however, the premise of "influence" implies that information has been perceived by a conscious mind and also interpreted by it,
14000-469: The system files at US Leasing after a falling out, leading to Mitnick's first conviction. She retired to professional poker. Mike Ridpath is a security consultant, published author, speaker and previous member of w00w00 . He is well known for developing techniques and tactics for social engineering through cold calling . He became well known for live demonstrations as well as playing recorded calls after talks where he explained his thought process on what he
14125-510: The three core concepts. In information security, confidentiality "is the property, that information is not made available or disclosed to unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes." While similar to "privacy," the two words are not interchangeable. Rather, confidentiality is a component of privacy that implements to protect our data from unauthorized viewers. Examples of confidentiality of electronic data being compromised include laptop theft, password theft, or sensitive emails being sent to
14250-416: The transaction of business". The International Committee on Archives (ICA) Committee on electronic records defined a record as, "recorded information produced or received in the initiation, conduct or completion of an institutional or individual activity and that comprises content, context and structure sufficient to provide evidence of the activity". Records may be maintained to retain corporate memory of
14375-563: The trust of the target and then uses that trust to get access to sensitive information like password or bank account details. Pretexting (adj. pretextual ), also known in the UK as blagging , is the act of creating and using an invented scenario (the pretext ) to engage a targeted victim in a manner that increases the chance the victim will divulge information or perform actions that would be unlikely in ordinary circumstances. An elaborate lie , it most often involves some prior research or setup and
14500-428: The twentieth century and the early years of the twenty-first century saw rapid advancements in telecommunications , computing hardware and software , and data encryption . The availability of smaller, more powerful, and less expensive computing equipment made electronic data processing within the reach of small business and home users. The establishment of Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP) in
14625-440: The use of this information for impersonation ( e.g. , date of birth, Social Security number , last bill amount) to establish legitimacy in the mind of the target. Water holing is a targeted social engineering strategy that capitalizes on the trust users have in websites they regularly visit. The victim feels safe to do things they would not do in a different situation. A wary person might, for example, purposefully avoid clicking
14750-437: The value of the information resource to the organization." There are two things in this definition that may need some clarification. First, the process of risk management is an ongoing, iterative process . It must be repeated indefinitely. The business environment is constantly changing and new threats and vulnerabilities emerge every day. Second, the choice of countermeasures ( controls ) used to manage risks must strike
14875-419: The victim. In this attack , attackers leave malware -infected floppy disks , CD-ROMs , or USB flash drives in locations people will find them (bathrooms, elevators, sidewalks, parking lots, etc.), give them legitimate and curiosity-piquing labels, and wait for victims. Unless computer controls block infections, insertion compromises PCs "auto-running" media. Hostile devices can also be used. For instance,
15000-741: The wars as machines were employed to scramble and unscramble information. The establishment of computer security inaugurated the history of information security. The need for such appeared during World War II . The volume of information shared by the Allied countries during the Second World War necessitated formal alignment of classification systems and procedural controls. An arcane range of markings evolved to indicate who could handle documents (usually officers rather than enlisted troops) and where they should be stored as increasingly complex safes and storage facilities were developed. The Enigma Machine , which
15125-523: Was doing to get passwords through the phone. As a child, Ridpath was connected with Badir Brothers and was widely known within the phreaking and hacking community for his articles with popular underground ezines , such as, Phrack, B4B0 and 9x on modifying Oki 900s, blueboxing, satellite hacking and RCMAC. Brothers Ramy, Muzher, and Shadde Badir—all of whom were blind from birth—managed to set up an extensive phone and computer fraud scheme in Israel in
15250-509: Was employed by the Germans to encrypt the data of warfare and was successfully decrypted by Alan Turing , can be regarded as a striking example of creating and using secured information. Procedures evolved to ensure documents were destroyed properly, and it was the failure to follow these procedures which led to some of the greatest intelligence coups of the war (e.g., the capture of U-570 ). Various mainframe computers were connected online during
15375-401: Was signed by President George W. Bush on 12 January 2007. The 1999 Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) is a U.S. Federal law that specifically addresses pretexting of banking records as an illegal act punishable under federal statutes. When a business entity such as a private investigator, SIU insurance investigator, or an adjuster conducts any type of deception, it falls under the authority of
15500-870: Was soon added to defend disclosures in the interest of the state. A similar law was passed in India in 1889, The Indian Official Secrets Act, which was associated with the British colonial era and used to crack down on newspapers that opposed the Raj's policies. A newer version was passed in 1923 that extended to all matters of confidential or secret information for governance. By the time of the First World War , multi-tier classification systems were used to communicate information to and from various fronts, which encouraged greater use of code making and breaking sections in diplomatic and military headquarters. Encoding became more sophisticated between
15625-443: Was the informational equivalent of 174 newspapers per person per day in 2007. The world's combined effective capacity to exchange information through two-way telecommunication networks was the informational equivalent of 6 newspapers per person per day in 2007. As of 2007, an estimated 90% of all new information is digital, mostly stored on hard drives. The total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally
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