Okay, think of the biggest weasel you’ve ever worked with. Okay, calm down. I can detect your blood boiling. Take a deep breath. Now, think of why s/he’s such a weasel. I detect another deep breath is in order here. If one quality that they lack is integrity, then you’ve already identified the second term in our CIA acronym that we’re going to discuss today – although I’ll bet many other words came to mind first.

Now I know you’re saying what in the world does integrity have to do with computers. I’m sure you must be thinking that my computer, at its worst, could never be as terrible as that *&*^% weasel. Well, when our computer systems lack integrity, the accuracy and reliability of the data stored on them is much like that weasel that you work with – unreliable. When there’s no integrity with our computer systems, unauthorized modification of data isn’t prevented. And as a result, data can end up in unintended destinations, often contaminated, corrupted and maliciously modified.

As an example, let’s say that that weasel accidentally made a mistake in a database entry and charged a customer $50,000 for a bill instead of $50… and tried to creatively blame you. Thanks to that weasel, (or too bad for you if s/he’s convincing) the data is now corrupted. The customer has now been inconvenienced by having to straighten out this error. And now your job might be on the line – but of course you’ll go into Soprano mode and prevent that from happening.

When hardware and software don’t work in a concerted effort to maintain the accuracy and reliability of data, trouble ensues. And while later on we’ll uncover ways to harden systems and educate/train users on ways to avoid such costly errors, for now, just note that integrity is critical to making sure that the correct data ends up in the correct destination.

Last time we met, I asked you to remember a short acronym. Do you recall? No, well here’s a hint: There’s an intelligence agency with the same acronym? If you said CIA, muy bien! If not, you’re the recipient of Colbert’s Tip of the Hat – Wag of the Finger. And if you don’t know what that means, then unfortunately my friend, you’re probably missing out on one of TV’s wittiest and funniest shows.

Now, let’s proceed. Can you recall the last time that you told someone something in confidence,hoping that they’d honor your request not to go blabbering to the world? How far would you go to prevent them from disclosing your deep dark secret? Soprano fans, please don’t answer.

In the world of computer security, confidentiality is critical. It’s one third of the triad known as C-I-A. We’ll soon discuss the other two. Without it, all kinds of information that should be kept confidential is now unleashed, as if from the mouth of your blabbering friend. For example, some of those secrets can be a company’s trade secrets, marketing plans, credit card information, or your grandma’s secret family recipe.

Whatever that information is, it’s valuable and its disclosure can ruin a company’s productivity and profitability, raise the possibility of legal and liability issues, not to mention your grandma possibly disowning you.

Of course, sometimes we honestly disclose information that we didn’t know was confidential, but this doesn’t change the fact that information that should have remained secret is now exposed. This is why valuable information must be safeguarded while it resides on systems, while in transit and once it reaches its final destination. And yet with all the efforts made to maintain this confidentiality, there are still those who manage to obtain sensitive information. We’ll investigate these efforts later.

So, to wrap up, keep in mind that confidentiality is the means to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of resources and data. Think of it as efforts to ensure that information remains confidential, like keeping your friend’s trap shut and hopefully preventing your grandma from kicking you out of the family.