Information Assurance Analysts

We often think of information security and assurance in a modern technological context, but these issues have been at the forefront of government, business, and organizational planning from the dawn of recorded history. One ancient example of information protection and assurance occurred in Greece around 300 B.C. Greek kings would shave the hair off their slaves’ heads, tattoo messages on their bare skulls, wait for the hair to grow back, and then send the slaves to another king to exchange information.

The term “information assurance” was first used by agencies of the U.S. government during the Cold War with the Soviet Union to protect classified, secret, and top-secret information pertaining to weapons systems, troop movements, and other data.

In recent years, the large number of cyberattacks by cyber criminals and spies has prompted the U.S. government to increase its information assurance and security efforts, and companies and other organizations to hire more information assurance analysts.