Attribution

In cybersecurity contexts, Attribution is the action of identifying and making a record of the user(s) responsible for particular action(s) or event(s) that affect computing systems or data.

Attribution is particularly important in highly regulated systems, such as those that maintain student records in the education industry or those that maintain patient records in the healthcare industry. Attribution is also critical for forensic purposes when investigating a security incident, such as a case of unauthorized data access or release, or unauthorized system access.