Assignment1.Doc Essay

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1. Explain what is meant by information assurance Ans. Information Assurance (IA) refers to the steps taken in protecting information systems, like computer systems and networks. Information assurance includes protection of the integrity, availability, authenticity, non-repudiation and confidentiality of user information. It uses physical, technological and administrative controls to accomplish these tasks. Essentially, Information Assurance is protecting information systems through maintaining these five qualities of the system. Integrity involves making sure that an information system remains unscathed and that no one has tampered with it. IA takes steps to preserve integrity, such as having anti-virus software in place so that data will not be altered or destroyed, and having policies in place so that users know how to properly use their system to minimize malicious code from getting into them. Availability is the facet of IA where information must be available for use by those that are allowed to access it. Protecting the availability can involve protecting against malicious code, hackers and any other threat that could impede access to the information system. Authentication involves ensuring that users are who they say they are. Methods used for authentication are user names, passwords, biometrics, tokens and other devices. Authentication is also used in other ways -- not just for identifying users, but also for identifying devices and data messages. IA involves keeping data confidential. This means that only those authorized to view information are granted access to it. Data needs to be kept confidential. This is commonly found, for example, in the military, where the information is classified or only people with certain clearance levels are permitted access to highly confidential information. The final pillar is nonrepudiation. This means that
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