Threats

4Information Disclosure and Confidentiality

The very first scene of Star Wars shows Princess Leia's ship being pursued, and we quickly learn that the Empire is hoping to recover the stolen Death Star plans. From the opening scene through the climax, Star Wars: A New Hope is the story of information disclosure and its consequences. I have no idea why people say it's about Luke's journey to adulthood, his relationship to his father, or anything else. Of course, throughout Star Wars there's plenty of undisclosed information, such as what happened to Luke's father, where the Rebel base is really located, or the Empire's plan to destroy Alderaan to demonstrate the awesome power of the Death Star.

An important attribute of information disclosure is that the information is someone's secret. Breaches of confidentiality can be a disclosure to a select few, the public, or any set beyond those who are supposed to be “in the know.”

Information disclosure can be from one account on a system to another; information can be disclosed to those who observe the network your packets traverse, and there can be disclosure to unaffiliated entities, those who aren't along the expected network path.

Confidential information is often about the data itself, but sometimes it's information about data, or metadata. This can also include information about who is talking to whom. Information about files, even the existence of the Manhattan Project, needs to be concealed (hey, come on, I have to move off Star ...