Digital security

Digital security aims at safeguarding digital assets of an organization. It secures data and systems from unauthorized access. There are three core elements in digital security. They are known as CIA triad. The CIA triad means:

1.  Confidentiality

It keeps the data confidential and that data can be accessed by authorized personnel only with permission.

2.  Integrity

Integrity guarantees the accuracy and reliability of the data. Techniques include checksums, hashing, digital signatures and version control systems.  

3.  Availability

Availability means that the data is available whenever it is needed. This is achieved using load balancing, failover, redundancy, and business continuity strategy. 

Types of digital security

1.  Access control

With access control implementation, only authorized personnel can access have access to the information. This policy verifies that who are verified users and ensures appropriate control.

2.  Application security

In application security, digital security is implemented in application before deployment to prevent data or code within application from being stolen or hijacked. Once the application is deployed then additional security is also implemented on the application. 

3.  Cloud security

It provides security to cloud based applications. Its data and infrastructure are kept secured. It includes digital security tools designed specifically for software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS), infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). 

4.  Network security

Network security protects the network infrastructure from unauthorized access to preserve its integrity and usability. It secures communication paths, network equipment, and the servers and client devices connected to them. 

5.  End-point security

It provides digital security to end-user devices such as computers, mobile devices and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It protects the corporate network when accessed via connected devices.

6.  Internet of things (IoT) security

IoT security is a specialized digital security that is to protect the data of devices which are connected to the internet. It works on the CIA triad i.e. Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability. 

7.  Threat intelligence and response

It is enabled in an organization to identify potential threats to the organization. When the threats are identified, necessary steps can be taken to mitigate the potential risk and a response work can be done against the threat.

8.  Governance, Risk management and Compliance

Governance program provides structure for selection, implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of policies and controls which minimizes risk. Risk management is implemented to provide continuous risk assessment. Various compliances are there whose rules are followed by organizations. They are GDPR, CCPA, HIPPA, PCI DSS, etc. 

Digital security applications

1.  Application data security

It secures the application continuously from emerging threats, prevents unauthorized software installation and implements web application security for common web application vulnerabilities. 

2.  Authentication and access control

Implement access control mechanisms, such as role-based access control (RBAC) for precise permissions and attribute-based access control (ABAC) for dynamic access policies. Integrate biometrics into authentication systems. Require multi-factor authentication (MFA) and single sign-on (SSO)

3.  Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)

AI & ML helps in predictive analysis of threat mitigation. It rapidly analyzes threat intelligence data. Security postures are adjusted based on real time assessment of risk and context. 

4.  Blockchain

It ensures the integrity of critical information and provides user with control over identified data. It is also used for traceability to prevent counterfeiting.

5.  Data protection

Data protection is done to keep the data secure from unauthorized access. It uses data masking to obscure specific information in data bases. 

6.  Cloud architectures

It encrypts the data at rest in persistent volume. It provides limited privileges and permissions to the minimum required. It continuously verifies user and device identity. 

7.  Endpoint data security

It prevents unauthorized data transfers through external devices and regularly update virus definitions for real-time protection. It implements policies to control peripheral device access.

8.  Internet of things (IoT)

It encrypts the communication channels through which the data is transferred between IoT devices and servers. It protects the interconnected devices, networks, and data associated with IoT ecosystems.

9.  Network security

It configures stateful and application-layer firewalls and uses virtual private networks (VPNs) and secure tunneling for remote communication. It implements intrusion detection and prevention systems (IDS / IPS) with behavioral analysis, including anomaly detection and real-time monitoring for deviations from normal behavior signature-based anomaly detection.