Managing Trust Professor Richard Walton CB

Exam Question The importance of Trust in Data Protection (This essay should discuss the relationship between trust and assurance, the different nature of Confidentiality and Privacy in relation to trust, along with the importance of data Protection – and associated legislation – in contributing to Assurance to facilitate Trust. Also discuss how these issues are addressed through Information Security Management Processes)

The Nature of Trust  Difficult to define  Nebulous and Subjective  Pervasive in interpersonal dealings  Two concerns – Bona fides – Competence  Integrity

I can trust you, can't I?

Mutual Exposure

Trust and Assurance Assurance builds confidence that machine processes are doing the right thing with no unlooked-for side effects and that people/organisations behind the process are also doing the right thing. Assurance addresses both bona fides and competence.

Organisations Trusting  Classic Infosec  Security Policy  Regulations  Personnel Vetting  Least Privilege  Access Control  Audit & Monitoring

Trust and Organisations You can trust most of the people most of the time

Trusting Organisations  Imbalance of Power  Conflict of Interest  Reputation  Legal Framework  Financial guarantees  Third Party Intermediaries  Transparency

Trust and Machines You can trust a machine to do what it is told to do. But what has it been told to do...?

Trust and Machines  Reputation of Organisations  Qualifications of Staff  Functional Testing  Penetration Testing  Evaluation & Certification  Audit, Monitoring and Checking  Authentication of Machine and of Users

Data Protection  Confidentiality –Keep secrets secret –Prevent unauthorised disclosure –Information owner control  Privacy –Personal information –Control usage –Prevent abuse of personal information

Privacy Privacy is not the same as Confidentiality The most challenging issues are less to do with keeping information secret than with controlling use and abuse of private information

Trust and Data Protection  Serious Breaches have caused loss of public trust – Reduces business benefit – Limits effectiveness of e-commerce and e- government  Vital to restore trust through confidence building assurance measures – The law is only part of the solution

Trust and Data Protection  Law and Regulation –Data Protection Act –Official Secrets Act –Copywrite and Patent laws –Digital Rights Protection  Policy assertions  Use of encryption  Authentication mechanisms  Tick box permissions

Conclusions 1  Trust is central to achieving business benefits  Trust is built from Assurance measures  Historic trust between individuals serves as a starting point  Trust by and in organisations is complex  Trusting machines is technically challenging  Trust must be managed – And is an essential ingredient in information security

Conclusions 2  Data Protection (DP) is an exemplar of the need for trust – Trust lost through serious inadequacies  DP concerns both Confidentiality and Privacy – These are not the same  Privacy poses the more challenging trust questions