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Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Foundational

CIA Triad

The three core goals of information security: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Definition

The CIA triad is the foundational model used to define security objectives and evaluate controls. Confidentiality prevents unauthorized disclosure, integrity prevents unauthorized modification, and availability ensures timely, reliable access for authorized users. Most security controls can be mapped to protecting one or more of these properties.

Example

Encrypting a laptop protects confidentiality, hashing a download protects integrity, and a redundant power supply protects availability.

Exam tip

Expect scenario questions asking which CIA property a control protects or which one an incident violated; a DDoS hits availability, not confidentiality.

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