What is Cyber Security?
Cybersecurity, known as information security or computer security, refers to protecting computer systems, networks, programs, and data from unauthorized access, theft, damage, or any other form of disruption or misuse. It involves the implementation of measures and strategies to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information stored in digital formats. We need a strategy in cybersecurity that is strong enough for a good security practice against some of the malicious attacks crafted to access, tamper with, delete, extort, or destroy the data of an organization or individual systems and steal sensitive data. The most instrumental part, which prevents cyber-attacks from happening by aiming to weaken or disrupt a system's or device's operations is cybersecurity.
Importance of Cyber Security
Nowadays, the number of users who are using devices and programs has increased considerably in the modern enterprise which generates a large amount of data, many of which are sensitive or confidential. Thus, here comes the importance of cybersecurity, as in this age, data theft on these systems continues to grow. The increase in volume and sophistication of the methods used by cyber attackers through many attack techniques creates many problems even further.
Components of Cyber Security
The cybersecurity field can be divided into various components based on the type of security it is providing on the device, and the integration of all of these within the company is very important for the cybersecurity program to succeed. These include the following components:
- Authentication and Access Control
- Data Encryption
- Network Security
- Malware Protection
- Vulnerability Management
- Cloud Security
- Security Awareness and Training
- Incident Response and Recovery
- Mobile Security
Working in Cyber Security field
Maintaining cybersecurity is a challenge for all organizations in this constantly evolving threat landscape. In traditional reactive approaches, resources were put towards protecting systems against the biggest known threats, while lesser-known threats were undefended, which is no longer a good tactic. A more proactive and adaptive approach is necessary to keep up with changing security risks. Several key cybersecurity advisory organizations recommend good guidance. If we adopt continuous monitoring and perform assessments in real-time, it can help us defend if any known or unknown threats occur as part of a risk assessment framework, which is also endorsed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Benefits of Cyber Security
There are several benefits:
- We can protect businesses against cyberattacks and data breaches.
- We can protect data and networks.
- We can prevent unauthorized user access.
- The recovery time is improved even after a breach.
- It protects endpoint devices and end users.
- It has regulatory compliance.
- It assures the continuity of business.
- The confidence in the reputation of an organization improves.
Top Cyber Security Challenges
Cybersecurity is continuously challenged by hackers, who are responsible for data loss. Moreover, privacy, risk management, and changing cybersecurity strategies also pose a threat. The number of cyberattacks taking place is not expected to decrease soon because more and more people are getting access to the internet. Furthermore, with the arrival of the Internet of Things (IoT), the entry points for attacks increase, increasing the need to secure networks and devices.
The evolving nature of security risks is one of the most problematic elements of cybersecurity. With the advent of new technologies, they are used in new or different ways, and new attack avenues are developed. Keeping up with these frequent changes advances in attacks, and the practices of updating to protect against them can be challenging. Issues such as ensuring all elements of cybersecurity are continually updated to protect against potential vulnerabilities are difficult for smaller organizations without staff or in-house resources because of the lack of manpower and investment.
Conclusion
An average mid-sized startup or company faces huge traffic because there is a lot of activity that is happening on the company's network. This means a lot of data is transferred between customers and the servers of the organization daily. The data that is transferred has to be protected from hackers so that they cannot read or tamper with it, which may lead to collateral damage for the user and the organization. It becomes impossible for cyber security personnel to check all the traffic to detect some possible threats.
In addition, AI can help to discover and focus on risks, direct incident response, and distinguish malware attacks before they come into the scenario. Thus, even with the expected drawbacks, AI will effectively drive cyber security forward and assist the organization in practicing a more robust security posture.