Information assurance (IA) is the practice of assuring information and managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and transmission of information or data and the systems and processes used for those purposes. It focuses on ensuring the availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation of information and systems. It is an established discipline with a broader focus to include the protection of digital and non-digital information assets. IA is important to organizations because it ensures that user data is protected both in transit and throughout storage.

Assurance areas of focus include but are not limited to:

• Internal IT audits
• Vulnerability and Patch Management
• Internal IT Risk Assessments
• IT Program Review
• IT Business Continuity Plan/Disaster Recovery Plan
• IT Policy maintenance and Development
• Develop recommendations for remediation
• Alignment with Texas Administrative Code and NIST Information Security Framework
• Strategic Planning
• Facilitating Security Awareness Training as certified by the Department of Information Resources