Information Security

Information security (infosec) is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, deletion, corruption, modification, inspection, recording, or devaluation of information. Infosec aims to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.

Confidentiality refers to ensuring that information is only accessible to those authorized to access it. Integrity means that information is accurate and has not been altered by unauthorized means. Availability ensures that information is accessible when needed by authorized users.

Infosec involves implementing various measures, such as access controls, encryption, authentication, and security policies, to protect information from threats such as cyber attacks, data breaches, and other forms of unauthorized access or disclosure. It is a critical aspect of cybersecurity and is essential for maintaining trust in digital systems and services.

What is InfoSec ?

Information security, often referred to as infosec, is a critical practice in today’s digital age. It involves protecting information from various risks to ensure its confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This protection is vital as information can exist in various forms, including electronic or physical, and can be tangible (such as paperwork) or intangible (like knowledge).

1. Confidentiality: Ensuring that information is only accessible to those who are authorized to view it.
2. Integrity: Guaranteeing that information is accurate, complete, and has not been altered in an unauthorized manner.
3. Availability: Ensuring that information is accessible and usable when needed by authorized users.

Those above key factors help to define further, down the line, information security measurements, tooling, systems and procudures that will help business owner or relevant stack holders like security architect, security manager other cyber security roles to make sure our organization is safe and protected as best as possible.

Info Sec Abbreviation

It’s esasy to counter abbreviation in the information security world, otherwise some meanings and description of those meanings may take a long time to explain or write, In our information site about information security you’ll find those abbreviation all other the place. This is why I made this list to ease your reading experience:

Abbreviation	Meaning	About
GDPR	General Data Protection Regulation	A regulation in EU law on data protection and privacy for all individuals within the European Union and the European Economic Area. It also addresses the transfer of personal data outside the EU and EEA areas.
CCPA	California Consumer Privacy Act	A state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of California, United States.
SCA	Supply Chain Attack	SCA is a process in which a security vulnerability introduced into a system within one weak link of an entire supply chain.
CDR	Cloud Detection and Response	CDR refers to a set of cybersecurity practices and tools designed to detect and respond to security threats within cloud environments (noticeable companies: Gem Security)
CWPP	Cloud Workload Protection Platform	CWPPs are security tools or platforms designed to protect cloud-based workloads, such as virtual machines, containers, and serverless applications, from cyber threats.
RBAC	Role Base Access Control	a security posture that helps organization to manage risk and control of access to assets within organization like data.
HIPAA	Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act	The way healthcare providers, insurance companies, and their business associates handle patient information
TOTP	Time-Based One-Time Password	Time-Based One-Time Password, is a method used in two-factor authentication (2FA) to generate a temporary and dynamic password.
GLBA	Gramm-Leach-Bliley	U.S. law enacted to ensure the protection and confidentiality of consumers’ non-public personal information held by financial institutions.
Duo Mobile	Duo Mobile	A mobile application providing two-factor authentication (2FA) to enhance security.
CPRA	California Privacy Rights Act	An extension of CCPA, aimed at further strengthening consumer privacy rights in California, including provisions related to sensitive personal information and data retention.
COPPA	Children’s Online Privacy Protection	U.S. law that imposes certain requirements on operators of websites or online services that collect personal information from children under the age of 13.
Data Fabric	Data Fabric	Data fabric is an architecture that facilitates the end-to-end integration of various data pipelines and cloud environments through the use of intelligent and automated systems. Ability to observe and manage different source of data in a single dashboard to get high observability of companies database assets. (noticeable companies: avalor.io)
CASB	Cloud Access Security Broker	It is a security software tool or service that sits between cloud service users and cloud applications to monitor all activity and enforce security policies.
ASM	Attack Surface Management	Cybersecurity approach that focuses on identifying and managing the various points where an organization’s digital assets are exposed to potential threats.
LGPD	Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados (Brazilian General Data Protection Law)	A law that governs the use of personal data in Brazil and aims to protect the privacy and fundamental freedoms of individuals.
PECR	Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations	A set of regulations in the UK that govern the use of electronic communications, including marketing emails, cookies, and electronic direct marketing.
AAP	Accredited ACH Professional	A designation awarded by NACHA to individuals who are experts in the field of ACH payments and electronic transactions.
FCRA	Fair Credit Reporting	Federal law in the United States that regulates the collection, dissemination, and use of consumer credit information.
PIPEDA	Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act	A Canadian law that governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information in the private sector.
VCDPA	Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act	A state privacy law in Virginia, United States, aimed at protecting the privacy of Virginia residents and regulating the use of personal data by businesses.
ICO	Information Commissioner’s Office	A UK regulatory body responsible for upholding information rights in the public interest, promoting openness by public bodies, and data privacy for individuals.
GPDP	General Personal Data Protection Law (China)	A comprehensive law in China that regulates the processing of personal data and promotes the protection of individuals’ privacy rights.
DSGVO	Datenschutz-Grundverordnung (General Data Protection Regulation – German)	The German translation of GDPR, which is the European Union’s data privacy and security law.
BfDl	Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information)	An independent federal authority in Germany responsible for overseeing data protection and freedom of information laws.
CNIL	Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties)	An independent French administrative regulatory body whose mission is to ensure that data privacy law is applied to the collection, storage, and use of personal data.
AEPD	Agencia Española de Protección de Datos (Spanish Data Protection Agency)	The Spanish supervisory authority responsible for ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals regarding the processing of their personal data.
Data Spill	Data Spill	A data spill, often referred to as a data breach, is an incident where confidential information is exposed, transmitted, accessed, or visually disclosed in an unauthorized or unintentional manner
CCNP	Cisco Certified Network Professional	Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) is a beacon of proficiency in the vast sea of networking. Beyond the foundational networking knowledge embodied by its precursor, CCNA, the CCNP certification encapsulates a deeper and more nuanced understanding of security, IT and cyber.
PDPB	Personal Data Protection Bill (India)	A bill that aims to provide for the protection of personal data of individuals and establishes a Data Protection Authority for the regulation and protection of personal data in India.
DIA	Data Integrity Assurance	Data Integrity Assurance as the name suggest revolve around the idea that data needs to be valid, real, authentic, reliable, true and anything around doing and achieving those as goals.
DPA	Data Protection Authority	A regulatory body or agency responsible for overseeing data protection laws and regulations within a specific jurisdiction.
PDPA	Personal Data Protection Act (Singapore)	A Singaporean law that governs the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data by organizations in Singapore.
TTDSG	Telecommunications-Telemedia Data Protection Act (Germany)	A German law that regulates data protection for telecommunication and telemedia services, including internet service providers and telecommunications companies.
POPIA	Protection of Personal Information Act (South Africa)	A South African law that regulates the processing of personal information and aims to protect individuals’ privacy rights.
IR Incident commander	IR Incident Commander	The primary responsibility of an IR Incident Commander is to lead security and relevant stack holders within the company.
AP	Access Point	In the context of networking, an access point is a device that allows wireless devices to connect to a wired network using Wi-Fi or other wireless protocols.
VPN	Virtual Private Network	VPN provides secure, encrypted connections over public networks
PII	Personally Identifiable Information	PII, the lifeblood of many organizational processes, is concurrently a tempting treasure trove for malicious actors seeking to exploit these sensitive details for illicit gains.
MGT512	Security Leadership Essentials for Managers	MGT512 is a course offered by the SANS Institute, aimed at managers and leaders in information security. It focuses on developing leadership and management skills specific to cybersecurity.
GIAC	Global Information Assurance Certification	GIAC is a prestigious certification body known for its specialized and technical certifications in the field of information security
SIEM	Security Information and Event Management	SIEM collects and analyzes security event data
SOC	Security Operations Center	SOC is a centralized unit for monitoring and responding to security incidents
DDoS	Distributed Denial of Service	DDoS attacks overwhelm a target with a flood of traffic
WAF	Web Application Firewall	WAF protects web applications from common security threats
SSO	Single Sign-On	SSO allows users to authenticate once for multiple applications
IDP	Identity (Service) Provider	IDP is a service that authenticated users for companies. it’s external security “expert” that verify the identity of the customer at our organization.
CSRF	Cross-Site Request Forgery	CSRF is an attack that tricks a user into executing unwanted actions
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure	PKI manages digital certificates and public-private key pairs
SOCaaS	Security Operations Center as a Service	SOCaaS provides outsourced security monitoring and management
DLP	Data Loss Prevention	DLP helps prevent unauthorized access, use, or transmission of data
EDR	Endpoint Detection and Response	EDR tools monitor and respond to suspicious activity on endpoints
UTM	Unified Threat Management	UTM combines multiple security functions into a single solution
BYOD	Bring Your Own Device	BYOD policies allow employees to use personal devices for work
DRM	Digital Rights Management	DRM controls access to digital content and protects intellectual property
RASP	Runtime Application Self-Protection	RASP embeds security controls into applications to protect against attacks
DNSSEC	Domain Name System Security Extensions	DNSSEC adds cryptographic security to the Domain Name System (DNS)
PKI	Public Key Infrastructure	PKI manages digital certificates and keys to secure communication over a network
NIST	National Institute of Standards and Technology	NIST provides cybersecurity frameworks and guidelines for organizations
ISO	International Organization for Standardization	ISO develops standards for various industries, including information security
COBIT	Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies	COBIT is a framework for governance and management of enterprise IT
OWASP	Open Web Application Security Project	OWASP provides resources and best practices to improve web application security
STIG	Security Technical Implementation Guide	STIG provides guidance for securing computer systems and software
IDS	Intrusion Detection System	IDS monitors network or system activities for malicious activities or policy violations
MFA	Multi-Factor Authentication	MFA adds an extra layer of security by requiring multiple forms of verification
CSP	Cloud Security Provider	CSP offers security services and solutions for cloud computing environments
ACL	Access Control List	ACL specifies which users or systems are granted access to resources
RNG	Random Number Generator	RNG generates unpredictable numbers for cryptographic purposes
API	Application Programming Interface	API allows different software applications to communicate and interact
SSL/TLS	Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security	SSL/TLS encrypts data transmitted between a client and a server
UEBA	User and Entity Behavior Analytics	UEBA analyzes patterns of user behavior to detect abnormal activities
IPS	Intrusion Prevention System	IPS identifies and blocks potential threats before they reach a network
EPP	Endpoint Protection Platform	EPP protects endpoint devices from cybersecurity threats
XSS	Cross-Site Scripting	XSS is a type of security vulnerability found in web applications
RDP	Remote Desktop Protocol	RDP allows users to remotely access and control a computer over a network
SAML	Security Assertion Markup Language	SAML is an XML-based framework for exchanging authentication and authorization data
oAuth	Open Authorization	oAuth is an open standard for access delegation, commonly used as a way for internet users to grant websites or applications access to their information on other websites but without giving them the passwords.

Common InfoSec Questions

Information Security Threats

There are common security threats facing for any organization, sometime they are very similar and sometime very different from one another. Looking throughout those common security threats can help preforming risk assessment within your organization – so let’s take a look at those risks.

Common Information Security Threats	Description
Malware	Malware is malicious software designed to infiltrate, damage, or disrupt computer systems. It includes viruses, worms, Trojans, ransomware, and spyware, and can steal sensitive information, cause system downtime, or provide unauthorized access to attackers.
Phishing	Phishing is a social engineering attack where attackers deceive users into revealing sensitive information or executing malicious actions. This is typically done through fraudulent emails or messages that impersonate legitimate entities.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs)	APTs are sophisticated, long-term cyberattacks, often state-sponsored, that target specific organizations or governments to steal sensitive information or cause disruption.
Zero-day Exploits	Zero-day exploits are attacks that exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities in software or hardware, giving developers no time to create patches or fixes.
Insider Threats	Insider threats involve employees, contractors, or partners with legitimate access to an organization’s systems and data who misuse their privileges, either intentionally or unintentionally, to cause harm or compromise security.
Password Attacks	Password attacks involve attempts to gain unauthorized access by cracking user passwords through methods such as brute force, dictionary attacks, or keylogging.
Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) Attacks	MitM attacks involve attackers intercepting communication between two parties, eavesdropping on, manipulating, or injecting malicious data into the conversation without the parties’ knowledge.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS)	DDoS attacks are coordinated attacks on a target system or network by overwhelming it with a flood of traffic, rendering it inaccessible to legitimate users.
Physical Attacks	Physical attacks involve unauthorized access, theft, or damage to physical assets, such as computer systems, servers, or storage devices, which can lead to data loss or disruption of operations.
Natural Disasters	Natural disasters, such as floods, earthquakes, or fires, can cause physical damage to infrastructure, leading to data loss or system downtime.

Above list is not limited to your organization, and each organization might have a complete different risks that needs to be asses. It’s important to advice by professional and experts with years of experience to receive the best treatment of what risks your organization may hold.