Accreditation |
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The official management decision given by a senior organization official to authorize operation of an information system and to explicitly accept the risk to organization operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organization assets, or individuals, based on the implementation of an agreed-upon set of security controls. |
Authentication |
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Verifying the identity of a user, process, or device, often as a prerequisite to allowing access to resources in an information system. |
Authorizing Official |
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Official with the authority to formally assume responsibility for operating an information system at an acceptable level of risk to organization operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organization assets, or individuals. Synonymous with Accreditation Authority. |
Availability |
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Ensuring timely and reliable access to and use of information. |
Certification |
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A comprehensive assessment of the management, operational, and technical security controls in an information system, made in support of security accreditation, to determine the extent to which the controls are implemented correctly, operating as intended, and producing the desired outcome with respect to meeting the security requirements for the system. |
Confidentiality |
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Preserving authorized restrictions on information access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information. |
Environment |
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Aggregate of external procedures, conditions, and objects affecting the development, operation, and maintenance of an information system. |
Incident |
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An occurrence that actually or potentially jeopardizes the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of an information system or the information the system processes, stores, or transmits or that constitutes a violation or imminent threat of violation of security policies, security procedures, or acceptable use policies. |
Information |
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An instance of an information type; data. |
Information Security |
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The protection of information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction in order to provide confidentiality, integrity, and availability. |
Information System |
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A discrete set of information resources organized for the collection, processing, maintenance, use, sharing, dissemination, or disposition of information. |
Information Technology |
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Any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management, movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or information by the organization. For purposes of the preceding sentence, equipment is used by an organization if the equipment is used by the organization directly or is used by a contractor under a contract with the organization which: (i) requires the use of such equipment; or (ii) requires the use, to a significant extent, of such equipment in the performance of a service or the furnishing of a product. The term information technology includes computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. |
Integrity |
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Guarding against improper information modification or destruction, and includes ensuring information non-repudiation and authenticity. |
Management Controls |
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The security controls (i.e., safeguards or countermeasures) for an information system that focus on the management of risk and the management of information system security. |
Media |
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Physical devices or writing surfaces including, but not limited to, magnetic tapes, optical disks, magnetic disks, Large-Scale Integration (LSI) memory chips, printouts (but not including display media) onto which information is recorded, stored, or printed within an information system. |
Organization |
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An organized body of people with a particular purpose, especially a business, society, association, government agency, etc. |
Potential Impact |
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The loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability could be expected to have a limited adverse effect, a serious adverse effect, or a severe or catastrophic adverse effect on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals. |
Records |
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All books, papers, maps, photographs, machine-readable materials, or other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by an organization in connection with the transaction of business and preserved or appropriate for preservation by that organization or its legitimate successor as evidence of the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations or other activities such as legal requirements or because of the informational value of the data in them. |
Risk |
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The level of impact on organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, or individuals resulting from the operation of an information system given the potential impact of a threat and the likelihood of that threat occurring. |
Risk Management |
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The process of managing risks to organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, or individuals resulting from the operation of an information system, and includes: (i) the conduct of a risk assessment; (ii) the implementation of a risk mitigation strategy; and (iii) employment of techniques and procedures for the continuous monitoring of the security state of the information system. |
Safeguards |
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Protective measures prescribed to meet the security requirements (i.e., confidentiality, integrity, and availability) specified for an information system. Safeguards may include security features, management constraints, personnel security, and security of physical structures, areas, and devices. Synonymous with security controls and countermeasures. |
Sanitization |
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Process to remove information from media such that information recovery is not possible. It includes removing all labels, markings, and activity logs. |
Security Category |
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The characterization of information or an information system based on an assessment of the potential impact that a loss of confidentiality, integrity, or availability of such information or information system would have on organizational operations, organizational assets, or individuals. |
Security Controls |
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The management, operational, and technical controls (i.e., safeguards or countermeasures) prescribed for an information system to protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the system and its information. |
Security Plan |
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See System Security Plan. |
Security Requirements |
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Requirements levied on an information system that are derived from applicable laws, orders, directives, policies, standards, instructions, regulations, or procedures, or organizational mission/business case needs to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information being processed, stored, or transmitted. |
System |
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See information system. |
System Security Plan |
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Formal document that provides an overview of the security requirements for an information system and describes the security controls in place or planned for meeting those requirements. |
Threat |
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Any circumstance or event with the potential to adversely impact organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, or reputation), organizational assets, or individuals through an information system via unauthorized access, destruction, disclosure, modification of information, and/or denial of service. Also, the potential for a threat-source to successfully exploit a particular information system vulnerability. |
User |
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Individual or (system) process authorized to access an information system. |
Vulnerability |
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Weakness in an information system, system security procedures, internal controls, or implementation that could be exploited or triggered by a threat source. |