Cybersecurity essentials · Lesson 1 of 5

What are we actually protecting?

Cybersecurity starts with what matters to people, not with a tool. A useful starting point is the CIA triad: confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

SEE THE IDEA

One portal. Three things to protect.

Imagine a school portal with grades and assignments.

C
Confidentiality
Student records stay visible only to authorized people.
I
Integrity
Grades stay accurate and changes require authorization.
A
Availability
Students can reach assignments when they need them.

The same incident can affect more than one security goal.

Read the visualThe portal is online, but someone changed a grade without permission. Which goal is affected?

Integrity. Being online does not establish that the information is trustworthy.

Confidentiality

Only authorized people and systems should see sensitive information.

Integrity

Information should not be changed or destroyed without authorization.

Availability

Authorized users should be able to access information and services when needed.

Put it in context

Imagine a school portal. Exposing student records affects confidentiality. Quietly changing grades affects integrity. An outage before assignment deadlines affects availability. One incident can affect more than one goal.

Before choosing a control, ask what you need to protect and what failure would mean.

Read the sources

Make it stick.

Try one short question to check your understanding and save this lesson to your progress.