Confidentiality
Field: Security
Confidentiality is the security property of preserving authorized restrictions on information access and disclosure, so that information is not revealed to people, processes, or devices that aren’t authorized to see it.
Confidentiality is one of the three properties of the CIA triad and one of the five CIANA properties. U.S. federal law defines it as “preserving authorized restrictions on access and disclosure, including means for protecting personal privacy and proprietary information” (44 U.S.C. § 3552). In cryptographic standards, confidentiality is usually provided by encryption.
A classic example of confidentiality in transit is the use of Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt connections between web browser clients and servers. That uses strong encryption to protect the confidentiality and integrity of the data in transit. For more, see Integrity and McCumber Cube.
Sources
- confidentiality, NIST Computer Security Resource Center Glossary. Retrieved September 24, 2026.
- 44 U.S. Code § 3552, Definitions, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School. Retrieved September 24, 2026.
- RFC 8446, The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.3, IETF, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2026.