Confidentiality and Privacy Controls Chapter 9

Learning Objectives Identify and explain controls designed to protect the confidentiality of sensitive information. Identify and explain controls designed to protect the privacy of customers’ personal information. Explain how the two basic types of encryption systems work.

CONFIDENTIALITY SYSTEMS RELIABILITY According to the Trust Services framework, reliable systems satisfy five principles: Security (discussed in Chapter 8) Confidentiality Privacy Processing integrity Availability CONFIDENTIALITY PRIVACY PROCESSING INTEGRITY AVAILABILITY SECURITY

Protecting Confidentiality of Sensitive Information Identify and classify information to protect Where is it located and who has access? Classify value of information to organization Encryption Protect information in transit and in storage Access controls Information rights management (IRM) Controlling outgoing information - DLP Digital watermarks Training

Identification and Classification Intellectual Property (IP) Strategic plans Trade secrets Cost information Legal documents Process improvements All need to be secured

Encryption Encryption alone is not sufficient to protect confidentiality. Given enough time, many encryption schemes can be broken. Access controls are also needed Strong authentication techniques are necessary.

Controlling Access Information Rights Management (IRM) software Can limit the actions (read, write, change, delete, copy, etc.) that authorized users can perform when accessing confidential information Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software Digital watermarks Physical access controls System outputs Magnetic and optical media Voice-over-the-Internet (VoIP) technology Virtualization and cloud computing

Training Employee use of email, instant messaging (IM), blogs and social media represent some of the greatest threats to the confidentiality of sensitive information. Use of encryption software Leaving workstations unattended Code reports to reflect importance Clean desk policy

PRIVACY SYSTEMS RELIABILITY In the Trust Services framework, the privacy principle is closely related to the confidentiality principle. Primary difference is that privacy focuses on protecting personal information about customers rather than organizational data. CONFIDENTIALITY PRIVACY PROCESSING INTEGRITY AVAILABILITY SECURITY

Privacy Same controls as confidentiality Identification and classification Encryption Access control Training

Privacy Concerns SPAM Unsolicited e-mail that contains either advertising or offensive content Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act. CAN-SPAM (2003) Criminal and civil penalties for spamming

Privacy Concerns Organizations must carefully follow the CAN-SPAM guidelines, which include: The sender’s identity must be clearly displayed in the message header. The subject field in the header must clearly identify the message as an advertisement or solicitation. The body must provide recipients with a working link that can be used to “opt out” of future email. The body must include the sender’s valid postal address. Organizations should not: Send email to randomly generated addresses. Set up websites designed to harvest email addresses of potential customers.

Privacy Concerns Identity Theft The unauthorized use of someone’s personal information for the perpetrator’s benefit. Companies have access to and thus must control customer’s personal information.

Privacy Regulatory Acts A number of regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), and the Financial Services Modernization Act (aka, Gramm-Leach-Billey Act) require organizations to protect the privacy of customer information.

ENCRYPTION Encrypting sensitive stored data provides one last barrier that must be overcome by an intruder. Encryption plays an essential role in ensuring and verifying the validity of e-business transactions. Therefore, accountants, auditors, and systems professionals need to understand encryption.

Encryption Steps Takes plaintext and with an encryption key and algorithm, converts to unreadable ciphertext (sender of message) To read ciphertext, an encryption key reverses the process to make information readable (receiver of message) To encrypt or decrypt, both a key and an algorithm are needed

Encryption Strength Key length (longer=stronger) Algorithm Number of bits (characters) used to convert text into blocks 256 is common Algorithm Manner in which key and text is combined to create scrambled text Policies concerning encryption keys Stored securely with strong access codes

Types of Encryption Uses one key to encrypt and decrypt Symmetric Asymmetric Uses one key to encrypt and decrypt Both parties need to know the key Need to securely communicate the shared key Cannot share key with multiple parties, they get their own (different) key from the organization Since both sides of the transaction share the key there is no way to prove which party created a document. Uses two keys Public—everyone has access Private—used to decrypt (only known by you) Public key can be used by all your trading partners Can create digital signatures

ENCRYPTION Hybrid Solution Use symmetric for encrypting information Use asymmetric for encrypting symmetric key for decryption

Hashing Converts information into a “hashed” code of fixed length. The code can not be converted back to the text. If any change is made to the information the hash code will change, thus enabling verification of information.

Digital Signature Hash of a document that is encrypted using document creators’ private key Provides proof: That document has not been altered Of the creator of the document

Digital Certificate Electronic document that contains an entity’s public key Certifies the identity of the owner of that particular public key Issued by Certificate Authority Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)

Virtual Private Network (VPN) The internet provides inexpensive transmission, but data is easily intercepted. Encryption solves the interception issue. If data is encrypted before sending it, a virtual private network (VPN) is created. Provides the functionality of a privately owned network But uses the Internet

Virtual Private Network Securely transmits encrypted data between sender and receiver Sender and receiver have the appropriate encryption and decryption keys.