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What is the CIA Triangle and Why is it Important for Cybersecurity Management?  

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CIA Triangle

Confidentiality, integrity, and availability, aka the CIA triangle, is a security model created to guide information security policies within a company. The three elements of the CIA triangle are considered to be the three most important components of security. 

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is the security principle that controls access to information. It is designed to ensure the wrong people cannot gain access to sensitive information while ensuring the right people can access it. 

Access to information must be restricted only to those who are authorized to view the required data. Data can be categorized according to the type and severity of damage that could happen to it should it fall into unauthorized hands. According to these categories, strict measures can then be implemented. 

Protecting confidentiality may also include special training for those who share sensitive data, including familiarizing authorized users with security risk factors and teaching them how to guard vulnerable data assets. 

In addition to training, strong passwords and password-related best practices must be used as well as information about social engineering attacks to prevent them from unwittingly avoiding proper data-handling rules and potentially causing disastrous results. 

An example of a method used to ensure confidentiality is the use of data encryption. Two-factor authentication is now the norm for authenticating users to access sensitive data, while user IDs and passwords should be considered standard practice. 

Other methods include biometric verification, security tokens, and digital certificates. Users should also be cautious to reduce the number of places where the information appears and where sensitive data is transmitted in order to complete a transaction. 

Integrity

The second component of the triad, integrity assures the sensitive data is trustworthy and accurate. Consistency, accuracy, and trustworthiness of data should be maintained over its life cycle. Sensitive data should not be altered in transit, and security measures, such as file permissions and user access controls, should be taken to make sure that it cannot be modified by unauthorized users. 

In addition, version control should be used to prevent unintentional changes and deletions from authorized users from becoming a problem. Other measures should also be taken to detect data changes that might occur due to a non-human-caused event, such as a server crash or an environmental failure. Sensitive data should also include cryptographic checksums for verification of integrity. In addition, backups or redundancy plans should be planned and implemented to restore any affected data in case of an integrity failure or security breach in order to restore data back to its correct state. 

Availability

Availability is the guarantee of reliable and constant access to your sensitive data by authorized people. It is best guaranteed by properly maintaining all hardware and software necessary to ensure the availability of sensitive data. It’s also important to keep up with system upgrades. Providing adequate communication throughout and preventing bottleneck helps as well. Redundancy, failover, RAID, and clustering are important measures that should be considered to avoid serious availability problems. 

A quick, adaptive disaster recovery plan is crucial for the worst-case scenarios, which will depend on the successful execution of a full disaster recovery plan. 

Safeguards against interruptions in connections and data loss should consider unpredictable events such as a fire or a natural disaster. To prevent data loss, backup should be located in a geographically separate location, and in a fireproof, waterproof vault. 

To prevent downtime due to malicious attacks such as denial-of-service DOS attacks and network intrusions, extra software and security equipment should be used as well. 

The CIA security triangle is an important security concept because all security controls, mechanisms, and safeguards are implemented to provide one or more of these protection types. All risks, threats, and vulnerabilities are measured for their potential capability to compromise one or all of the CIA triad principles. This triad is the basis for creating a holistic security plan to protect all of your organization’s critical and sensitive assets.

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Megan Miller

Megan Miller’s energy and passion for learning flow into all aspects of her work. As the Growth Manager, North America, she brings a background in sciences which she has transitioned to the tech sector in her role at Difenda.

With a Bachelors of Science in Geology, Megan is a lifelong learner who is voracious about learning anything she can get her hands on about cybersecurity. Her positive energy has built a sales strategy with a focus on expanding in the United States while nurturing the Canadian presence. She is responsible for recruiting and training the sales team. Together with the company’s leadership, she creates the sales process and the company’s product strategy in order to better serve the customer base. This ensures that our customers have a highly trained and highly motivated team to help them every step of the way, Megan has completed Microsoft SC-900 training and working towards mastering Microsoft.

Whether at work or play, Megan is fully committed. She took her love of hockey all the way to the semi-professional level as a competitive hockey player. Megan loves all things sports including water skiing, scuba diving, cycling, and snowboarding. She also enjoys time with family and reading about alternative energy, innovation, and cybersecurity.

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Natasha Phanor

As the Microsoft Partner Manager at Difenda, Natasha Phanor is responsible for driving growth within our Microsoft Partnership. With six years in the industry, she offers a fresh, energetic approach, and the ability to focus on our customer’s needs throughout the entire process. Natasha has the innate ability to foresee customer needs and solve problems before they arise, which creates a smooth road for each customer she encounters.

As the recipient of the Outstanding Services Partner of the Year Award in 2018, it is clear that Natasha responds quickly to customer needs, creates a platform for understanding a customer’s business requirements, and walks them through the process to ensure their complete satisfaction.

In her spare time, Natasha is as energetic and passionate as she is on the job. A self-proclaimed foodie-extraordinaire, she enjoys dinner parties, traveling, downhill skiing, hiking, biking, and reading. Natasha has a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in Dance, from Ryerson University.

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Lisa Templeton

Lisa Templeton is the perfect combination of human empathy and technological prowess. In her role as People Services Manager, she takes care of our team members to support them in their daily work, as well as on their personal life paths. Happy employees make for happy customers, and Lisa excels in giving our employees the tools they need for success in order to become the best possible versions of themselves. Along with employee formation, she shines in the service delivery support domain to continuously improve the process. Her 24 years of experience in IT Operations and Service Management help her create quality and efficiency at Difenda.

Having attended the Information Systems Management certificate program at Ryerson University, and with various other certifications to her credit, Lisa is perceptive and innovative when it comes to information technology, but also sensitive to the needs of her human constituents. Responsible for achieving the first privately owned company HDI Support Center certification in Canada, she has also designed and implemented Service Management excellence programs and 24×7 IT Operations departments for multiple IT organizations, and has created corporate rewards and recognition programs to keep her employees engaged and motivated.

On the personal side, Lisa passionately supports the cause of breast cancer research, having lost her mother to the disease. She reads voraciously in her spare time, and enjoys the art of home renovation. The summer months also bring time on her boat and exploring new hiking trails.

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Miranda McCurdy

Miranda McCurdy uses her myriad super powers in all aspects of her job and personal life. As the Marketing Director at Difenda, Miranda McCurdy brings over a decade of experience to the table, which includes expertise in all facets of operations, brand management, and content marketing, as well as a multitude of successful strategies for the ever-expanding digital world. She is an expert at simplifying the message the company is trying to send, filling in gaps in the information, and strengthening the content in order to create compelling narratives that strengthen the brand and developing programs that bring teams together.

With several Addy Awards issued by the American Advertising Federation Cleveland to her credit, and her never say die attitude, Miranda understands both the broader picture and the minute details that are needed to successfully market a product. With her abilities to harness both the talent needed to spread the message, as well as to create the message itself, she is an integral cog in the company’s ability to communicate with customers and other stakeholders.

When she is not building a brand, she shares her ability to fill the gaps in her community by volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, the Special Olympics, and the Charleston Food Bank. In her spare time, Miranda spends time with her family, enjoys fitness and health, paddle boarding, reading, and arts and crafts.

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Juliana Zaremba

Connections are the name of the game for Juliana Zaremba. As Strategic Partnerships Director, she is responsible for Difenda’s channel partnerships and the development and ownership of the channel partner program. She is also responsible for the global Microsoft Partnership, including the creation of strategic plans with MSFT contacts that will facilitate the continued growth of the business and establish certification and training protocols in all security technologies. Her role is multifaceted, as she acquires partners, manages relationships with them, and develops strategies that will provide cutting edge security solutions to our customer base. Another integral aspect of her job is to facilitate growth.

With a Bachelor’s in Math from the University of Waterloo and 14 years of experience from her previous roles at Herjavec Group and CDW, her cutting edge focus and ability to develop long-lasting relationships and strategies provides world class security solutions to our customer base.

Juliana thrives on connections outside of work as well. She is a philanthropist and contributor with Women4Change based in Hamilton. This group of local women is passionate about supporting local causes, and she focuses her efforts around Women in STEM. She is also a member of Club Italia in Niagara Falls and supports their youth events throughout the year.

When not managing the Microsoft Global partnership, Juliana enjoys reading, often reading several books at once. Juliana enjoys exploring the Niagara Escarpment with her family, as well as sharing meals and experiences with her extended family. Juliana’s competitive nature has her always trying new things, like Whoop band challenges and Peloton.

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Jeffry Jacob

Biography Coming Soon

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