Fundamentals of information security

Abstract

The basic reasons we care about information systems security are that some of our information needs to be protected against unauthorized disclosure for legal and competitive reasons; all of the information we store and refer to must be protected against accidental or deliberate modification and must be available in a timely fashion. We must also establish and maintain the authenticity of documents we create, send and receive. As recent events have shown, information security is an essential part of any organization’s infrastructure and increasing interconnectivity, and networks to fulfill the organizations’ needs. This paper defines information security, policy, addresses the general goal of information security, provides an outline of implementation, and describes the tools available to implement information security.