Protecting Intellectual Property Rights With Information Assurance Research Paper

Protecting Intellectual Property Rights With Information Assurance - Research Paper Example Thus, information assurance was given birth as a response to the threat of hacking and stealing vital information, especially data from particular high-profile government or institution. The definitions and practices pertaining to information assurance, on the other hand, are multifaceted and multifarious. Like the complicated Web and its laws, if there are any, the information assurance is an intricate field of human knowledge. This paper discusses the numerous and various definitions of the concept called information assurance (hereinafter IA). It also examines the security services prominent in the information assurance. Of Definitions There are numerous definitions or categorization to the concept of â€Å"information assurance.† Most of these definitions are defined or categorized by various U.S. government institutions such as the U.S. Air Force, the National Defense University, the Pentagon, among other institutions. The U.S. Air Force, for one, categorizes the term inf ormation assurance as a representation of â€Å"measures to protect friendly information systems by preserving the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of the systems and the information contained within the systems† (as cited in Curts & Campbell, 2002, pp. 1-2). What is peculiar in this definition of IA is the description of the information systems as something friendly. ... (The emphasis of Curts and Campbell’s IA is on the protection through preservation.) On the one hand, the Pentagon’s Office of the Secretary of Defense categorizes IA in this fashion: â€Å"Informational assurance is the component of information operations that assures the Department of Defense’s operational readiness by providing for the continuous availability and reliability of information systems and networks† (as cited in Curts & Campbell, 2002, p. 2). Here, the definition of the phrase â€Å"information assurance† centers on, as the phrase implies, the assurance of readiness via the provision of availability and reliability of information systems or networks. In contrast to the U.S. Air Force’s, the Pentagon views IA as an assurance -- not as a protection of authenticity -- for availability and reliability of the systems and/or networks. Further, Pentagon’s concept of information assurance is contextualized -- that is, the praxis of IA largely belongs to certain operational activities or transactions by its Department of Defense. The National Defense University (NDU), on the other hand, describes IA as â€Å"information operations (IO) that protect and defend information systems by ensuring their integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation† (as cited in Curts & Campbell, 2002, p. 2). Like the Pentagon’s IA, NDU’s information assurance is synonymous or attributed to the information operations. This similarity is grounded on the fact that both institutions, by nature of their office or function, are military in orientation. But unlike the Pentagon’s, IA as outlined by the National Defense University is perceived in terms of protecting and defending the systems or networks through ensuring or ascertaining not only their CIA but