ITPEC IP October 2018 Question 41
Among confidentiality, integrity, and availability, which of the following is the list that contains all items that are lost in the incident below, which involves information security?
All of the files on a server in the workplace were encrypted and saved. However, the server was infected by a virus, and a number of the files were deleted. Elimination of the virus and recovery of the files required several hours, during which work could not be performed and users were inconvenienced.
Explanation
Integrity and availability — the virus deletes data and stops work, but nothing is disclosed.
- •Integrity: a number of files were deleted, so the stored information was no longer complete and accurate. Destroying data breaks integrity even when the files are restored later.
- •Availability: removing the virus and recovering the files took several hours, during which work could not be performed, so authorized users could not use the information when they needed it.
- •Confidentiality: the files were encrypted, and the incident describes no disclosure to an unauthorized party, so it is not lost.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) Confidentiality — nothing was leaked or viewed by an outsider; the damage is deletion and downtime
- •(b) Confidentiality, integrity — adds a loss the incident does not describe and drops availability, even though work stopped for hours
- •(d) Availability — misses integrity: deleting files destroys data, which is a loss of integrity even though the files were recovered afterwards
Key rule: Match each CIA property to its symptom: disclosure breaks confidentiality, deletion or alteration breaks integrity, and being unable to use the data when needed breaks availability.
Security · AI-written, may contain errors
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