Information Security Risk Analysis, Essay Example

The CIA Triad Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability (the CIA triad) are considered the most important characteristics of a secure network. These are the most important characteristics because combined, these factors defend information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, perusal, inspection, recording, and destruction of both electronic and physical sensitive data. In the healthcare field, confidentiality is essential to comply with HIPAA and other federal mandates. Meanwhile, integrity ensures that the information that is being stored or transmitted is correct. Availability ensures that this information can be accessed whenever an authorized individual deems it necessary.

Confidentiality ties in to patient protection. To ensure that health records remain confidential, health insurance companies and healthcare provides require passwords to access personal patient information. Furthermore, patient information is stored in a manner that those who read it will not be able to identify the individual that the information is associated with. Lastly, the transfer of this information from individual to individual is tightly regulated and much effort is taken to ensure that unauthorized people never gain access to it. Integrity is defined as assuring the accuracy and consistency of data over its entire life-cycle (Peltier, 2001). An example of this would be ensuring that messages are not modified before they are transmitted. Lastly, availability is the ability to provide the healthcare information when it is necessary. An easy way of ensuring that this information is accessible would be to store the information on an electronic health record (EHR) system (Peltier, 2002). Thus, authorized users will be able to transmit the information to authorized recipients quickly, which will also ensure that the information is not intercepted and remains identical to the original document.

References

Peltier, Thomas R. (2001). Information Security Risk Analysis. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach publications.

Peltier, Thomas R. (2002). Information Security Policies, Procedures, and Standards: guidelines for effective information security management. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach publications.