Rest, Transit or Use? — TechKnowSurge

About this interactive

The Data States lesson says data lives in three states, and each needs its own protection. At rest: the data is stored and sitting still, on a hard drive, a thumb drive, or in a database that is not processing it. In transit: the data is moving from a source to a destination; the bits are on their way across a network. In use: the data is being processed, on the processor or in memory, or someone has it open on screen and is working with it. The lesson also calls this data in process. The same data passes through all three. A document stored in Google Docs is at rest. As you open it, it travels to your computer: in transit. On your screen, it is in use. In the lesson's bigger picture, a database holds data at rest; it is in transit to the web servers, in use while they process it, in transit again to the user, in use on the user's screen, and at rest again if the user saves it. That is why the lesson pairs every state with every CIA goal: confidentiality, integrity and availability at rest, in transit and in use. A quick test for each card: right now, is the data sitting still, on the move, or being worked on?

What you'll learn

Identify whether data is at rest, in transit or in use from what is happening to it at that moment
Follow one piece of data as it changes state, from storage, across the network, onto a screen and back into storage

Aligned to

CompTIA Security+

3.3 Compare and contrast concepts and strategies to protect data.

NIST CSF

PR.DS-01 The confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data-at-rest are protected.

PR.DS-02 The confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data-in-transit are protected.

PR.DS-10 The confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data-in-use are protected.

ISC2 CISSP

2.6 Determine data security controls and compliance requirements

Key terms

Data at Rest: Data that is stored on a device or medium and not actively moving through a network, which can be encrypted at the disk, partition, volume, file, or database level.
Data in Transit: Data that is actively moving across a network or communication channel between two endpoints, as opposed to data sitting on a storage device. Protocols such as TLS are commonly used to encrypt data in transit so it cannot be read if intercepted.
Data in Use: Data actively being processed or accessed, such as data moving through a processor or physically reviewed, which must be secured against unauthorized exposure.
CIA Triad: The three core principles of information security: Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

Topics

Data States Data Protection Interactive Categorize

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