Which group of three security goals is known as the CIA triad?

The CIA triad consists of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

These three goals provide a basic framework for thinking about information security. Confidentiality means preventing unauthorized disclosure. Integrity means protecting information and systems from unauthorized alteration. Availability means ensuring authorized users can access systems and data when needed.

The acronym can be confusing because CIA is also used for the Central Intelligence Agency. In information security, however, it refers to these three properties rather than an organization. The order of the letters does not rank the goals by importance.

Security controls often support more than one part of the triad. Encryption can protect confidentiality, checksums and digital signatures can help protect integrity, and backups, redundancy, and disaster recovery can support availability. Organizations typically balance all three according to their risks and operational needs.