Introduction to Information Security | Strategies for Data Protection and Risk Management

Information Security, often referred to as InfoSec, involves protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction. The aim is to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data. It spans various practices and technologies designed to protect digital and non-digital information. This includes employing cybersecurity measures to defend against cyber threats and attacks, physical security measures to protect physical computer systems and related hardware, and administrative controls to establish the framework and procedures for data handling and protection.

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Data and Information
3. Information Classification
4. Need to Know
5. Information Security
6. Other Applicable Attributes of Information Security
7. Physical Security
8. Logical Security

1. Introduction

In common parlance, the words ‘data’ and ‘information’ are used interchangeably, though technically, there is a subtle distinction between the two. What we input into a computer is referred to as data, and what the computer stores is also data. Our software programs and other utility software provides the information we need as output after processing the stored data. Therefore, data is typically considered the raw form of information, which requires processing to be used in a particular desired manner. In other words, processed data is generally referred to as information.

The Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 (IT Act, 2000) defines data as:

‘A representation of information, knowledge, facts, concepts or instructions which are being prepared or have been prepared in a formalized manner, and is intended to be processed, is being processed or has been processed in a computer system or computer network, and may be in any form (including computer printouts, magnetic or optical storage media, punched cards, punched tapes) or stored internally in the memory of the computer’. [Section 2(o)]

Though data is considered to be the first stage of information, sometimes the output or a piece of stored information or a print-out can also be called data. Therefore, it is quite clear that data does not necessarily mean the numbers and characters stored in the system but in a broader sense it refers to all that is stored in whichever form like music files, audio files, video files or in any internal medium like a hard-disk, a memory chip in the computer or an external medium like floppy, CD, DVD, Pen-drive etc.

The word ‘processing’ assumes significance when distinguishing data from information. Processed data is normally called information. Information is the data presented in the format required for use or other forms of analysis as part of Management Information System. In a computerised environment, information also includes all forms of data, in any format stored in the system, like audio files, video files, information in a network device, information while in transmission or stored in an external device.

2. Data and Information

Though technically, there is only a thin layer of distinction between data and information as explained above, in this article the word ‘information’ is used to refer to processed data and as far as storage in a computerized information is concerned and security ramifications are concerned, the word ‘information’ also includes ‘data’ unless otherwise specifically excluded in the context. The I.T. Amendment Act, 2008 has widened the definition of ‘information’ by including the words ‘data’, ‘message’ and ‘text’ within its ambit and the word ‘information’ is given an inclusive definition by bringing in ‘image, sound, voice, codes, computer programmes, software and databases’ as part of the definition.

2.1 Information Asset

Before we go into the subject of Information Security, it is better to know what to secure. Information Asset is the computer component where information is stored or passes through and the loss or non-availability of which may result in loss of facts of a business. Hence it can be a hardware gadget or software where information lies. It could be a network device, a hard-disk, a storage device, a pen-drive or a print-out, or just a communication channel where information traverses and is not stored. Securing the information asset is the first step in Information Security. Threats to information assets could be from

• outside as an external factor or event or
• human failures or
• systemic failures or
• just from factors beyond the control of an organisation.

Identification of an Information Asset is the preliminary and basic task before going ahead with the study of Information Security.

After identifying what exactly constitutes an information asset, we have to identify the parties or entities associated with an information asset. Every information asset has three persons associated with it: Owner, Custodian and User.

Owner of an information asset is the person or entity who has created or acquired the asset or who is legally the owner of the asset. For instance, in a typical bank set-up, the branch In-charge has the overall responsibility of all the physical records and ledgers in a bank and hence he is the owner. In a computerized set-up the branch manager is the owner of entire data relating to his branch. Of course, in the modern day Core Banking Solution adopted by all commercial banks in India and most of the co-operative banks, the issue of ownership of data is a little tricky. It is interesting to record here that even amongst many tech savvy bank officers, there seems to be a lack of clarity on who is the owner of CBS data.

With the obliteration of the concept of branch banking (i.e., no bank branch holds data), many bank officials appear to be under a misconceived notion that the data centre or the IT Department is the owner of the data. In CBS, there is a common database maintained at the Primary Data Centre (the primary data centre has the first level back-up and a secondary data centre also referred to as a Disaster Recovery Centre has the next level of backup) and the ownership is anyway with the person who created the data.

To put it in simple terms, unlike in the earlier non-computerised or partially computerized days, when the ledgers and registers were kept at the branch and the branch had a (perhaps a comfortable) feeling that the data is with him/her and all are under control in the premises, now in the CBS set up, the data is actually kept thousands of miles away but the ownership of the data still vests with the branch.

It would be wiser to understand that the entire branch data is not just one lot (like segmented or bifurcated branch data or register) but is a part of the whole data of Current Account, Customer data, Loans ledger, etc. out of which, every row in the data or the table (i.e., a record in the file) may have a different owner depending upon who actually input that particular row (i.e., record) in the RDBMS (Relational Database Management System). The database mandatorily stores the user id of the official who has input the data record i.e., row and in most cases, and also the one who has verified or approved it. Therefore, ownership of the data vests with these officials who may sometimes not even belong to the branch where the customer has the account.

This situation is quite understandable especially in the context of CBS, where the branch concept is declining and there is going to be no longer a ‘branch customer’ and only a ‘bank customer’. Perhaps in the upcoming days, customer may not even need to fill in the branch column (in an application form or in a credit challan/requisition slip) which could be left blank or just filled in as ‘virtual’ or ‘digital’. In short, the question of ownership of CBS data is often considered to be intricate.

Custodian of the information asset is the person who takes care of the database. Normally the system administrators are the custodians, since they are responsible for maintaining the external media when they take backup of the systems and when they keep safe custody of the backup tapes or DVDs or other media. Sometimes, such administrators also handle some transactions and are given limited powers to access and input some data in the database when they perform the role of users besides being the system administrators or custodians.

Typically, all bank employees who have access to an information asset are users. Interestingly, even non-employees can be users of a bank’s computer resources or an information asset in a bank in instances such as auditors who have access to a limited menu in a CBS system for viewing or a vendor who has a very limited access to the hardware resource or system related information in the bank.

Even internet banking customers for the time they are logged into a bank’s computer system and customers using the terminals provided at branches for viewing their accounts, are all users for the respective areas of operation within the limited access control privileges assigned to them. Hence in that capacity they are responsible for the resources they are utilizing and are bound by the rules and regulations of the bank like Information Systems Security Policy and other related policies.

3. Information Classification

Having studied what constitutes information and the role of different entities in an information asset, let us now study the nature and importance of information classification. We have to secure only that information that is needed to be kept and preserved. Hence, information is to be properly identified and classified.

Information Asset Classification is itself a very important ingredient of IT Security, because, it is at the stage of Asset Classification that an asset is given the importance and categorization that would impact its treatment as an asset. Standards such as ISO 27000 emphasise the importance of Asset Classification and it often becomes one of the early steps in the process of preparation for ISMS certification. Lack of classification or inadequate classification or improper classification will largely impact the IT security environment in the organization.

In practice, it is often observed that in most of the organizations, employees are not aware and in many cases even those at top management level especially the non-IT managers are not aware of the importance of any information. It has become quite common in organizations these days to send a mail to a select group in the top management and when one of the managerial personnel in the group wants a part of the information to be passed on to a lower level employee, he may at times simply forward the mail, without passing on the relevant and smaller part of the action point in the mail, without knowing the seriousness of the other information contained in the mail and the classification of such information.

For instance, a level ‘C’ employee in top management or a Director level employee who will be privy to some discussion or minutes of a particular meeting, should not pass on the minutes to his lower level employee even though that part of the minutes warrants some action to be taken by the employee who reports to him. Instead he has to give suitable instructions only without enclosing the entire minutes of the meeting.

Here, it should be kept in mind always that it is the information owner who does the information classification and decides the criticality or confidentiality of the information and not the other stakeholders. Through information security policy or other broader rules in this regard, a wider perspective will be drafted by the Information Security Committee represented by the Chief Information Security Officer, it is anyway, the owner who does the classification and decides the amount of criticality that the information or data should be treated with.

Information may be classified based on its Criticality, Confidentiality, Availability and Purpose:

• Criticality: information may be classified as Most Critical, Critical and Least Critical or Insignificant. What is available in the public domain, what can be recreated easily and what is quite easy to get may be called least critical and that which is more difficult, on these parameters, is called Critical and Most Critical.
• Confidentiality: information may be classified as Most Confidential or Private, Confidential and Least or simply as High, Medium and Low. Here again, what is confidential to one group of users may not be confidential to the other group. For instance, the HR data of an organisation’s employees may be treated as confidential to all employees but not within the HR department who need the data for their routine processing like salary, leave etc. Some information may be private to one individual and confidential to that particular employee alone and never to be revealed to anyone else. Confidentiality itself may again be classified as High, Medium and Low depending upon the nature of secrecy involved in it. Some information may be confidential based on time. For instance, exam results or any public information will be confidential only until the time of its official release or official uploading in the website for public viewing and not later. Such time-dependent secrecy, however, has also to be classified and treated with utmost confidence till it is made public.
• Availability: Information may also be classified on the basis of its availability depending upon the nature it is stored. If the information is available in only one source and no further copy is available nor can be taken, then such information should be classified as topmost critical. For instance, an old document, an old video film or the negative of an old photo taken in a public function for which copies are not available is supposed to be classified as topmost critical.
• Purpose: Depending upon the purpose for which the information is being gathered, it may be classified as Highly Critical, Medium or Low. If a crucial MIS decision is to be taken based on data obtained from different sources or from different systems, then the data may be available freely, but the report or the information so processed or presented or the note being prepared based on the data gains confidentiality. Such information may have to be treated as High, Medium or Low depending upon the nature of confidentiality vested with it and the information presented by it.

4. Need to Know

Information should always be made available on a need to know basis. Availability of information should be on the basis of need and not as a matter of routine. For instance, information taken from a data warehousing application may be made available to the actual users or the functional users depending upon their need to use the information as part of their routine official work. Top management, however, should have free access to a variety of information for its MIS purposes.

Need to know basis actually implies that employees in the organization are provided with the particular information and facts which are required to enable them perform their role in the organization and that information or fact is provided at the appropriate time and circumstances only and not otherwise.

Hence, Need to Know basis encompasses other basic principles of information security like Access Control, Access privileges, Availability, Authentication etc., about which we will discuss in the following paragraphs.

Information classification should be made on Need to Know basis. Based on the classification, right at the point of creation of the information and such classification should be maintained until the information reaches the archives and loses the significance of labelling of categorisation marked in it. Issues relating to Software Access Control and the availability of information based on Need to Know basis for a particular class of users, are being dealt with separately in the chapter on Access Control.

5. Information Security

After having studied what constitutes information and the nature of criticality and confidentiality, let us now examine the concept of security.

Security is the state of being protected from attacks and threats and other unauthorized access to information. To understand security, we have to look at what needs to be secured, from whom, when and where. An objective study into these aspects will reveal the entire structure of Information Security. Information Security can be broadly said to be the quality or state of being protected from unauthorized access and potential losses. Security is basically about protection of information assets. While it is generally understood that hundred percent security cannot be achieved, effort should always be in place to achieve the idealistic goal of cent percent.

5.1 Pillars of Information Security

Information security typically relies on several fundamental principles called pillars. Information is widely considered to have three main attributes. Information security lies fundamentally in ensuring these qualities without compromising any of these. The three such pillars of Information Security are Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability.

5.2 Confidentiality

Confidentiality as in normal parlance is the quality of secrecy in information. Security and secrecy has always been closely related. Though the terms privacy and secrecy are also used to denote confidentiality, there is a technological difference between these two terms on one hand and confidentiality on the other. While privacy is considered to be the protection of personal data, the term secrecy is normally used to denote protection of data belonging to an organisation. Whereas confidentiality is the state of keeping an information asset secret and disclosing it to authorised persons only. It is an assurance that the information is shared only among authorised persons or organisations.

Confidentiality does not only mean hiding an information but also not making it available for viewing or copying or any other kind of access whatsoever other than through an authorised process. Confidentiality of information asset is a dynamic concept and not static. What is confidential today may cease to be so tomorrow. What is confidential for one group of employees in an organisation may not be so for the other. However, confidentiality as an attribute of information security depends on the classification of the asset as decided by the owner of the asset.

5.3 Integrity

Integrity refers to detection and correction of modification including an intentional modification or a transmission error which has changed the data in transmission. Integrity controls in data give an assurance to the user that the data stored and retrieved is authentic and can be relied upon completely and is adequately accurate for the purpose it is used. Such controls also assure the user that the data stored cannot be altered other than through an authorised process of data entry and such other access to database.

Data should be maintained in the same manner as it was created and should not be accessible in an unauthorized manner for any kind of manipulation. No one should be allowed to tamper with the data or information from the time of its creation until the time of its ultimate destruction and it should remain the same throughout its entire life-cycle. Integrity is, this ‘non-tamperability’ of data or the state of information asset that it is exactly remaining in the same state it is supposed to be. If an information asset is prone to be tampered or is stored in a system which is vulnerable, easy for unauthorized access and manipulation then the asset is said to fail its attribute of integrity. In other words, data integrity is said to exist when the data in the system is the same as in the source and has not been exposed to accidental or deliberate attempt of destruction or alteration.

Integrity of information should be maintained not only in the computer system with proper controls, but also when it is in transit in a communication channel from one system to another and is stored elsewhere and retrieved. Integrity should be maintained on any number of retrievals and accesses to the system and not be hampered by any amount of attacks to the system. Consistency of data at different levels is often considered to be synonymous with data integrity.

5.4 Availability

On the face of it, availability may appear to be a simple term. But availability actually means that the information asset is available to the authorized user in an authentic manner when required and not available to any other users at any point of time. For instance, a bank official advising the account balance in a customer’s account at the bank counter is an example of availability. The same official not informing the customer his account balance or advising the balance through a letter sent to him which may reach him at a later date only, is a breach of the attribute of availability. Hence availability can be said to be the property of an information asset of being accessible and usable when required by an authorized entity.

Ensuring availability of data has always been a serious concern of information security managers and system administrators in any organisation. Attackers normally target an information system with the objective of making it either not available to the rightful users or making it easily available to all unauthorized users too. Attackers or intruders prevent authorized access to resources or send huge network data to a system and delay the process in time-critical operations and thus deny its service to authorised users. Such an attack often called Denial of Service attack results in breach of the attribute of availability.

6. Other Applicable Attributes of Information Security

In addition to the three traditional areas or pillars of information security as above, modern-day security professionals often include some additional attributes as ingredients of information security, like Non-repudiation, Accountability, and Reliability. Let us discuss these in a nutshell:

• Non-repudiation refers to the state of an information asset that makes the sender or the creator of the asset own the responsibility of such sending or creation and does not give any room for disowning it. In physical form, when one signs a letter or sends a hand-written communication, such hand-writing makes him own the task of writing or sending. He will not be allowed to repudiate or deny that he wrote it or sent it. In an electronic communication too, such a requirement does exist and it is but essential that the data entry operator of an asset or originator of the communication should be made to own it and should not be allowed to disown it. Usage of electronic signature in an electronic record or electronic communication is commonly used to bind the person who created the data or sent it and make him responsible for it.
  To elucidate the concept with practical banking examples, if in an RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) or other electronic funds remittances, imagine a situation, when a sender of remittance disowns the act of sending or the receiver after having received it, denies having received the message. Or, in a CBS database, a record (i.e., a row in the RDBMS) in the data which the data shows as having been entered by the particular user or the official and such user or the official disowns having entered the data, stating that he is in a branch hundreds or thousands of kilometers away.
  In all such cases, it is strength of the data or the system to prove that the data was actually input or sent or accessed or received by the actual user. This is an important pillar of information security. In a non-computerized environment, the user or the official’s signature or initials would be the biggest evidence making his denial impossible which in a computerized environment, is the role of Non-Repudiation.
• Accountability of information asset is the attribute of such audit information, to be kept selectively so that actions affecting security can be traced to the particular entity who breached it. Accountability presupposes a proper identity of authorised users and their records and availability of proper audit trail. Audit trail is the log or history of all system activities in chronological order, providing documentary evidence of processing that the data has been undergoing in its path of transformation from its inception right upto the final report generation and permanent storage. Accountability, therefore, is considered to be an off-shoot of non-repudiation and should be flawless in information security. Especially in the event of an attack to data security strong accountability ensures that the management has proper control and is able to identify the users who accessed the data at every stage.
• Authenticity may be broadly defined as conformance to the fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance, or belief. Being authentic is the quality of being absolutely true and in fact, not fraudulent or counterfeit and being worthy of belief, ‘in absolute fact’, not fraudulent or counterfeit. In information security, it is the assurance that a message, transaction, or other exchange of information is from the source it claims to be from. Authenticity involves proof of identity.
• Authenticity is verified through a process of authentication, which is a very popular word in information security parlance. Very often we hear words like One Factor Authentication, Two Factor Authentication, etc. The process of authentication usually involves more than one “proof” of identity when such proof could be something a user knows, like a password. Authentication is the process of verifying a user who he claims to be. A user can prove his identity by producing his card and swiping it in a device by which the authentication is by a One Factor Authentication of ‘what he has’. The gadget or the device or the credit/debit that is produced for swiping is the authentication device of One Factor Authentication. In addition to such physical possession of the device, suppose the user inputs a password or a number after entering his user id, such authentication is said to be based on ‘what he knows’. Hence in ATM transactions it is always a Two Factor Authentication of what the user has (i.e., the ATM card) plus the ATM PIN i.e., ‘what he knows’.
  Suppose the authentication is done through a process of biometric verification after the user id is input or the card is swiped, then it is said to be based on ‘Who the user is’ i.e., a biological factor of the user, say his fingerprint scans or retina or palm or hand geometry scans or such physical parts of the body to confirm that he is the user he claims to be.
• Reliability is another attribute of information security that focuses on dependability. This assumes significance especially in the event of a crisis or a disaster when an information is retrieved and is wholly relied upon and used. In such an event, if the information sought lacks dependability or is unreliable, then the entire process of security will fail. Hence, reliability has a bearing on the related areas of a computer system like safety giving an assurance to its users that the information can be relied upon even in times of an emergency in a safety-critical application. For instance, in the case of a non-computerised environment, it is an assurance that data extracted from say, a physical record is a reliable copy of the original one and can be acted upon.
• Resilience: Resilience involves the ability of an organization to withstand and recover from security incidents, disruptions, or failures. It includes proactive measures such as risk management, incident response planning, and business continuity management to minimize the impact of security breaches or disasters and ensure the organization can continue to operate effectively. The organizations, including Banks, by addressing these pillars comprehensively, can establish a robust information security posture that protects their assets from various threats and risks.

7. Physical Security

Information Security has two layers viz. Physical Security and Logical Security and a successful implementation of security depends upon proper usage of both of these. Physical Security is the most fundamental security layer for any information asset. The moment an information asset is created in a physical form like purchase of a computer, arrival or installation of a hardware system or a network device, its physical upkeep assumes significance and the physical security steps related to the asset should be in place.

Physical Security can be enforced by having protective compound walls and barriers with posting of security guards, ensuring frisking of visitors, installation of CCTVs in critical and public areas and even having one or more additional layers to reach a critical physical area like a Network Operation Centre or a Core Banking-Data Centre or a Server Room.

8. Logical Security

While physical security is about a user’s physical entry to a system or an information asset, logical security is about a user’s access to data or information in a system through a computer system either in the same premises or from a far off location through computer network. It cannot be debated which of these – physical or logical – is crucial and important. It depends upon the nature of application and the nature of information asset.

For a network-centric application wherein nothing is stored physically in front-end computer system or Workstation or node, physical security issues may be less important and logical security is more important. For instance, in a bank-branch which is part of core banking, physical security for the resources in a branch, say the PC work-stations or nodes are not so crucial like logical security since loss of the physical resources may not impact the core banking solution resources, but breach of logical security from a local branch to the centralized resources may have disastrous impact.

In such an environment, the physical security would largely confine to the physical assets in the branch like the computers or the network devices (since no significant or valuable data or software is stored at the branches) and of course non-electronic assets like cash, jewels and furniture that are part of the branch books and are thus valuable and important.

Logical Security: Every computer resource can be accessed by reaching it through a physical contact and attacked. Just like physical threats to a computer resource, there are also logical threats through logical accesses. When a computer resource in the form of an information stored in a hard disk or any other device, is accessed through computer resources like keyboard or a mouse either on-site or through a remote location or through a network, such access is called a logical access. Such logical access can be through a proper user id of a front-end system as part of the application and the database.

If such access is attempted in an unauthorised manner or with authorisation manner to carry out an unauthenticated transaction, then such access should be denied and proper log of such attempt should be maintained. Logical Security is an essential element of information security.

• Access Control restrictions should be in place for the success of any information security implementation. Top management and the security managers should be aware of what access is to be given to which user — either physical or logical — and the related control measures should be put in place.
• Access Privileges are a subset of Access Control Management in which the security managers decide upto what level of access is to be given to the user. For instance, in a banking environment, the data entry operators or the clerical staff members are given access to perform data entry jobs by recording an entry including debiting an account, but their access normally stops there (unless the system specifically permits them to do a limited supervisory job like teller functions) and after such posting of the debit, say a cheque, the privilege of passing it and releasing the corresponding credit like cash payment, etc. is vested with a supervisory official. Such an arrangement is called Access Privilege.
• Role of Supervisory Official: Similarly, a normal supervisory official will have powers to pass cheques but not to grant an overdraft. Powers of an overdraft in a Current Account will normally be given to a senior manager or the branch In-charge or other officers nominated for the purpose by the branch or by whatever is the process as prescribed by the bank in its Manual of Instructions or Work Manual or its Systems document, by whatever name called. Not defining or adhering to such a system will be called breach of privilege.

An important principle underlining Access Privileges is the Maker Checker principle which is compulsorily adhered to in most banking applications (i.e., software programs running in banks). Data entry is normally made by one staff member and it is checked by another preferably by a supervisor or a person of higher hierarchical ranking called the checker and then the record is saved in the system. Application software is normally designed to ensure proper maker and checker principle in all operations and breach is normally not possible. The system normally records the user details who has entered the data (i.e., the maker) and the supervisory user who has passed it (or approved it i.e., the checker) and every transaction carries the time stamp along with these details. Maker-Checker principle also ensures proper access control mechanism especially in Software Access Control and Logical Access Control and enhances the security strength of the system.

The terms IT Security and computer security are often used interchangeably, though a discerning security specialist may like to distinguish between these two words as IT Security is more technology based and computer security is more user based on the use of a computer or other devices that can be defined as computer. However, for the purpose of our understanding, the terms refer to the entire spectrum of Information Technology including application and support systems and the protection afforded to an automated information system in order to attain the applicable objectives of preserving the pillars of information security as stated above in all computer related resources including all kinds of hardware, software, firmware and telecommunications.

It would be quite relevant here to also use the phrases “Cyber Security”, “Computer Security” and “Information Security”. While for a common usage, all the three may be used interchangeably, for an expert in the area and for an information security professional, there is a clear difference. Information Security refers to the privacy and security of information in the system, say the hardware or the software or application (commonly referred to as just “apps” these days) or even the network and the entire gamut of computer systems. Cyber Security is more with reference to the security in the cyberspace especially in a network or while the data is in transit or part of some communication say in e-commerce or an electronic funds remittance or a social networking site wherein communication is the essence. Computer Security may be generally referred to in the context of the data and information privacy and security stored in the computer and all those devices what may be broadly called a computer.