Information Security: CIA Triad, Biometrics, and Deciphering Techniques

This document explores key concepts in information security, including the CIA triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), the challenges of biometric authentication, and the process of deciphering encrypted messages. It analyzes the importance of each element of the CIA triad in protecting sensitive information and discusses the vulnerabilities and limitations of biometric systems. The document also provides a step-by-step guide to deciphering a cipher text using a transposition technique, demonstrating the application of cryptography in information security.

ITC 595- Information Security
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Table of Contents
Question 1........................................................................................................................................3
Question 2........................................................................................................................................3
Question 3........................................................................................................................................4
Question 4........................................................................................................................................4
Question 5........................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................7
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Question 1
The CIA triad which stands for Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability acts as a guide for the
solutions of Information security. Information technologies are widely used everywhere which
means that all the companies are subjected to the issue of information security. It helps to protect
networks, technological assets and information systems.
Confidentiality: The CIA triad objective of confidentiality is the protection of facts and data
from unlicensed people. It takes measures for ensuring that only authorized people to get
information access (Henderson, 2017).
This is been implemented with security mechanisms like access control list, passwords,
usernames and encryption. It is common for the data to be categorized in accordance with the
degree of damage which could be fallen into unintended hands.
Integrity: The CIA triad objective of integrity is securing data from any activity of deletion or
modification by any unauthorized party. This information must not be made to inappropriately
modify as even a small change may lead to significant confidentiality breaches and service
interruptions (Perrin, 2008).
To ensure data integrity it is important to have the redundant system and backup procedure in
place. Also, security mechanisms like hashing and data encryption could be implemented.
Availability: Information availability means that licensed parties are capable of accessing
information when required. The users want to access information when they require and it must
be accessible anytime and anywhere. This failure comes because of DDoS attacks and this kind
of downtime can turn to be very costly.
For this, dedicated hardware devices can prove to be most effective. Processes like a RAID,
high-availability clusters, failover and redundancy (Chia, 2012).
The degree of Importance: The degree of prominence of this functionality is moderate and
tends to improvise bank ratings and boost the accessibility of ATM in an operational condition.
Question 2
The digits which are present on the keyboard are 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 whose total comes out to be
10 digits. For the PIN of ATM, the digits can be repetitive. It is also been told that robber
destroys 5 digits of the keyboard.
Instance 1: When button 0 is not broken
If button 0 was not broken by the robber then from the total options available only 1 option will
be reduced when all the digit of the PIN are 0.
The places here can also be repeated therefore total combination available for the Number of the
PIN is: 54-1 = 624
Instance 2: When button 0 is broken
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If button 0 is broken by the robber then 5 digits are available as 5 are already damaged by robber
excluding 0.
Maximum numbers of combination available for the PIN passwords are: 54 = 625
REMINDER: It is been known that after three trials to passwords, the user will not be allowed to
make any other attempt. The card will be blocked and a notice would be provided for the same.
Question 3
Biometric is a scientific and technological authentication method used for the replacement
systems and security systems for tokens, PINs or ID cards. It is generally used for access control
and identification so that people can be identified who are kept under surveillance. The general
premise of authentication of biometric is that each individual can be precisely identified with his
or her physical intrinsic.
Some problems with Biometric authentication are:
1. Hackable: It will be simpler to hack as compared to passwords. These are not only subject to
current outbreaks but data biometric was never intended to be secret. It is difficult to manage
when every person tends to wear gloves persistently so that fingerprints can be avoided.
The finger swipe with a code can prove to be very secure or a technology can be adopted which
scans the user’s vein in fingers.
2. Big Repercussions: A stolen biometric leads to greater repercussions for clients as compared
to stolen passwords. Biometric reveals user’s identity which is very personal and can be misused
in legal documents, criminal records and falsify travels.
It can be barred by describing and implementing access control option at every possible stage.
The more the person wants to know information the more safety features must be deployed.
3. Lack of Revocability: Another concern on using biometric-based authentication comes is the
absence of revocability. It means that biometric is not efficient enough to get it tossed and
substitute it with credit card number or password. Rather this authentication is permanently
associated to a user.
This damage could be reduced up by one-way encryption and salting techniques. Also,
improvements can be made in security controls (Bergsman, 2016).
So, biometrics are not suitable for everyone as in customer products, biometrics tend to be
continued. Whereas the enterprise products opt-out to confirm extreme information security.
Question 4
The certain situation when the false negatives deport much more serious threats when compared
to false positives. These can be presented as shown below:
1. Individual circumstances: Generally the structure fails to find out with accurate biometric.
The false negative mechanism can lead to severe difficulties along with problems to the system
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users. The accessibility of system restricts particular user when it carries some major important
information or data and fails in searching the person biometric.
2. Organizational circumstances: There is a lot of information stored substantively or
physically into the system and further prevented with biometrics of some people who are
authorized. If the error comes out then the data gets seized giving serious problems.
To overcome these problems, the system can be made more robust and can include more
functionalities like two-step authentication.
Question 5
Decipher means to discover something which is written badly or has some hidden thing to
something meaningful. Cyphering technique which is also called as transposition does not
distress the rate of recurrence of the symbol.
The cipher text provided is NTJWKHXK AMK WWUJJYZTX MWKXZKUHE and the key is
234.
Step 1:
Finding out the numbering of all the alphabets coming in the cipher text.
A=0, B=1, C=2, D=3, E=4, F=5, G=6, H=7, I=8, J=9, K=10, L=11, M=12, N= 13, O=14, P=15,
Q=16, R=17, S=18, T=19, U=20, V-=21, W=22, X=23, Y=24, Z=25
Step 2:
In the table we will be applying formula:
Cipher
Text (Ci)
N T J W K H X K A M K W W U J
Key (Ki) 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4
Decrypted
code (Mi)
L Q F U H D V H W K H S U R F
Cipher
Text
J Y Z T X M W K X Z K U H E
Key (Ki) 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3 4 2 3
Decrypte
d code
H V V R U I U H T X H Q F B
Step 3:
The decrypted code from step 2 is LQFUHDVH WKH SURFHVVRU IUHTXHQFB
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Now, we will be applying following formula:
Cipher
Text 2
(x)
L Q F U H D V H W K H S U R F
n 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Plain
Text
I N C R E A S E T H E P R O C
Cipher
Text 2
(x)
H V V R U I U H T X H Q F B H
n 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3
Plain
Text
E S S O R F R E Q U E N C Y E
Now finally decrypted code comes out to be INCREASE THE PROCESSOR FREQUENCY
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References
 Bergsman, J., (2016). Biometrics are less secure than passwords -- this is why. Retrieved
from https://betanews.com/2016/08/24/unsafe-biometrics/
 Chia, T., (2012). Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability: The three components of the CIA
Triad. Retrieved from https://security.blogoverflow.com/2012/08/confidentiality-integrity-
availability-the-three-components-of-the-cia-triad/
 Henderson, A., (2017). The CIA Triad: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability. Retrieved
from http://panmore.com/the-cia-triad-confidentiality-integrity-availability
 Perrin, C., (2008). The CIA Triad. Retrieved from https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/it-
security/the-cia-triad/
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