What is It Security?

IT security refers to the protection of information and, above all, the processing of this information. Information security is intended to prevent the manipulation of data and systems by unauthorized third parties. The meaning behind this is that socio-technical systems, i.e. people and technology, within companies / organizations and their data are protected against damage and threats. This does not only refer to information and data, but also to physical data centers or cloud services.

Information has become increasingly valuable in recent years. It is therefore particularly important to protect it. Information security is defined by the three IT protection goals of availability, integrity and confidentiality. This must be maintained. In addition, there are other parts: Authenticity, Accountability, Nonrepudiation and Reliability.

Confidentiality of information

Confidentiality of information security means that information is only accessible to certain authorized persons. For example, the data it contains is only accessible to certain groups of people. It can be said that access protection must be defined. Therefore, access rights must also be assigned. Another central point of information secrecy is the transmission of data. This should always be encrypted - symmetrically or asymmetrically. This means that unauthorized persons have no access to the contents

Availability of the information

Ensuring the availability of the relevant information means that data processing within the system functions smoothly. Data must be correctly available at the desired time. This means that IT systems must be protected against failures. That is why there are also stress tests to check limits so that business operations can be maintained under all circumstances.

Integrity of the information

The integrity of information is to ensure that content and data are always complete and correct. The system must function properly to fulfill its purpose. For example, data must not be altered by transmission or processing. This also means that unauthorized third parties can delete or (partially) replace the data. In this case, it must be ensured that such manipulations are prevented and that security gaps can be detected and eliminated.