What is CIANA in Cybersecurity?

What is CIANA in cybersecurity?

In cybersecurity, CIANA is an acronym that represents the five core principles of information security:

Confidentiality 
- Ensures information is only
  accessible to authorized users.
- Examples: encryption, access controls, least privilege, data classification.
Integrity 
- Ensures data is accurate, complete, and hasn’t been altered improperly.
- Examples: hashing, checksums, digital signatures, file integrity monitoring.
Availability
-  Ensures systems and data are accessible when needed.
-  Examples: redundancy, backups, failover, DDoS protection, high availability architectures.
Non-repudiation
-  Ensures that a user or system cannot deny having performed an action.
- Examples: digital signatures, audit logs, timestamps, PKI.
Authentication
-  Verifies the identity of a user, device, or system.
- Examples: passwords, MFA, certificates, device
  authentication.

How is CIANA different from the CIA triad?

The CIA triad is the foundation. CIANA is an expanded, more
modern model that adds identity and accountability.

CIA Triad vs. CIANA

CIA Triad

Confidentiality · Integrity ·Availability

This model focuses on protecting data and systems:

Confidentiality – who can see the data

Integrity – whether the data is accurate and untampered with

Availability – whether systems are accessible when needed

CIANA

Confidentiality · Integrity · Availability · Non-repudiation ·Authentication

CIANA keeps the CIA triad and adds two identity-centric pillars:

Authentication – proving who or what is accessing systems
Non-repudiation – proving who did what and preventing denial

It answers:

Who accessed it, can we trust their identity, and can we prove their actions later?

The CIA triad was created when:

Networks were smaller
Users were mostly internal
Devices were predictable

CIANA reflects today’s reality:

Cloud-first environments
Remote users
BYOD, IoT, and unmanaged devices
Compliance and audit requirements
Zero trust architectures

CIA = Protect the data

CIANA = Protect the data and prove identity and accountability

How does CIANA relate to zero trust?

Think of CIANA as the “what” and zero trust as the “how.”

Confidentiality → Least Privilege Access

Zero trust principle: Never trust, always verify

Enforce least privilege based on identity, device posture, and context
Microsegmentation limits lateral movement
Encrypt data in transit and at rest

Zero trust controls

Identity-aware access policies
Network segmentation / microsegmentation
Encryption (TLS, disk, database)

Integrity → Continuous Verification

Zero trust principle: Assume breach

Validate device health and configuration before and during access
Detect unauthorized changes to data or systems
Prevent tampering through policy enforcement

Zero trust controls

Device posture checks
Configuration baselines File integrity monitoring
Continuous policy evaluation

Availability → Resilient, Policy-Based Access

Zero trust principle: Access should be secure and reliable

Eliminate single points of failure
Prevent outages caused by attacks or misconfigurations
Maintain access without over-trusting networks

Zero trust controls

Cloud-native architectures
Redundancy and failover
DDoS protection
Policy-driven access instead of network trust

Authentication → Strong Identity Verification

Zero trust principle: Identity is the new perimeter

Verify users, devices, applications, and services
Require MFA and certificate-based auth
Re-authenticate continuously, not just at login

Zero trust controls

MFA Device certificates
SSO / IdP integration
Machine and workload identity

Non-repudiation → Visibility, Logging, and Accountability

Zero trust principle: Everything is logged and verifiable

Tie every action to a verified identity
Maintain immutable audit logs
Support compliance, forensics, and incident response

Zero trust controls

Centralized logging (SIEM)
Immutable audit trails
Session recording
PKI and digital signatures

Zero Trust operationalizes CIANA by enforcing identity-based access, continuous verification, and full accountability — without
relying on network trust.

How does universal access control fit in with CIANA?

Universal Access Control = consistent, identity-based access enforcement across users, devices, apps, networks, and
locations

Confidentiality → Least-Privilege Everywhere

How universal access control supports it:

Enforces access based on who/what is requesting access, not where they’re connecting from
Applies consistent policies across cloud, on-prem, wired, wireless, and VPN-less access
Prevents unauthorized access and lateral movement