Cyber security is the protection of Internet-connected systems such as hardware, software, and data against cyber threats. It is done by individuals and companies with the aim of protecting sensitive data from unauthorized access to data centers and other computer systems.
A strong cyber security strategy can provide a good defense against malicious attacks. Attacks aimed at accessing, altering, deleting, destroying, or extorting that may render organizational data unusable or deleted. In addition, cyber security is very useful in preventing attacks that aim to disable or disrupt the functionality of a system or device.
Why is cyber security important?
With the increase in the number of users, devices and applications in enterprises, along with the increasing flood of data, most of which is sensitive or confidential, cyber security has received special attention. Cyber security has been called one of the most popular trends in the world of information technology in 2023. The increasing volume of attacks and sophisticated techniques used by cyber attackers to attack infrastructure have made detection more difficult. So that sometimes security experts are not able to identify these attacks without using specialized tools.
What are the components of cyber security and how do they work?
The field of cyber security can be divided into several different parts whose coordination plays an important role in protecting the organizational infrastructure and adopting security strategies. These sections are as follows:
- Application security
- Information or data security
- Network Security
- Disaster recovery/business continuity planning
- Operation security
- Cloud security
- Critical infrastructure security
- Physical security
- End user training
Maintaining cyber security has caused organizations to face a serious challenge due to the complexity of the techniques that organizations use to attack infrastructure. Traditional approaches to respond to these attacks, where resources were placed in isolated networks, can only be used in certain situations, and sometimes organizations have to connect the main network to the Internet. The same issue makes corporate networks defenseless against lesser-known threats. In order to solve this problem, security experts have to use more active approaches that are more compatible with the developments in the world of cyber security. Today, various organizations help companies in this field in the role of cyber security consulting. For example, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends that you adopt continuous monitoring and real-time assessments as part of a risk assessment framework to defend against known and unknown threats.
Now, we come to the important question, what are the benefits of implementing and maintaining cyber security practices for organizations? Among these achievements, the following should be mentioned:
- Business protection against cyber attacks and data breaches.
- Data and network protection.
- Prevent unauthorized access of users to resources.
- Improved crash recovery time.
- Protection of end users and endpoint devices.
- Compliance with legal regulations.
- Business continuity.
- Increasing trust in the company among developers, partners, customers, shareholders and employees
What are the different types of cyber security threats?
The process of keeping up with new technologies has made security policies face new threats and challenges. In order to protect information and other assets from cyber threats that take different forms, it is necessary to have basic knowledge about the types of cyber threats. Among these threats, the following should be mentioned:
Malware: A type of malicious software in which any file or program is used to harm a computer user. This includes worms, viruses, trojans, and spyware.
Ransomware is another type of malware. This malicious file contains malicious code that locks the victim's system files. This process is done through encryption and then the hacker asks the victim to pay a ransom to regain access to the files.
Social engineering: An attack that relies on human interaction. The attack is designed to trick users into breaking security procedures to inadvertently expose sensitive, protected information.
Phishing: A form of social engineering in which fake emails or text messages are sent that look like emails from legitimate or known sources. Phishing attacks, some of which are accidental, are used to steal sensitive data such as credit card or login information.
Targeted phishing (Spear phishing): It is a type of phishing attack that targets a specific user, organization or business.
Insider threats: refers to security breaches or damages caused by malicious activities of employees, customers or contractors. Insider threats can be malicious or negligent in nature.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are attacks in which multiple systems send the same traffic to a target such as a server, website, or other network resource with the intent of disrupting their performance. When these attacks become too numerous, the equipment is unable to respond to legitimate requests.
Advanced persistent threats (APT): are long-term targeted attacks in which an attacker infiltrates a network and hides his identity for an extended period of time with the goal of stealing data.
Man-in-the-Middle attacks: These are eavesdropping attacks that involve the attacker intercepting and transmitting messages from both sides. These attacks are carried out in such a way that the identity of the hacker remains anonymous.
Other common attacks in this field include botnets, drive-by-download attacks, exploit kits, malicious advertisements, vishing, cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks, SQL injection attacks, compromising commercial emails. BEC) and misuse of Zero Day.
What are the most important challenges of cyber security?
Cyber security is constantly challenged by hackers in relation to data deletion, privacy violations, disruption of security plans and changes in cyber security strategies. The number of cyber attacks is not expected to decrease in the near future. Additionally, increasing entry points for attacks, such as the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) into the IT world, increases the need to secure networks and devices.
One of the most problematic elements of cyber security is the evolving nature of security risks. As new technologies emerge and are used in different ways, hackers find new ways to attack infrastructure. This issue has made it difficult for cyber security experts to adapt to these changes and update security methods to deal with threats. Ensuring that all elements of cyber security are constantly updated to protect infrastructure against vulnerabilities is just one of the problems facing security experts. This is especially a big challenge for small organizations that don't have enough IT staff.
Organizations can potentially collect a lot of data about people using one or more services. As more data is collected, the likelihood of a cyber attack to steal personally identifiable information (PII) doubles. For example, an organization that stores PII in the cloud may be vulnerable to a ransomware attack. For this reason, organizations should do everything they can to protect their infrastructure from cloud attacks. Prevent cloud penetration.
Cybersecurity programs must also address end-user education, as employees may accidentally bring viruses into the workplace on their laptops or mobile devices. Regular training increases employees' awareness of security problems and cyber attacks, which plays an important role in dealing with cyber threats.
Another challenge facing cyber security is the lack of qualified cyber security personnel. As the volume of data collected and used by businesses increases, the need for cybersecurity staff to analyze, manage, and respond to incidents increases. The ISC2 Institute estimates that the gap between vacant security positions and qualified employees will reach 3.1 million open positions in the next few years.
How is automation used in cyber security?
Automation has become an integral component of protecting companies against the increasing number and complexity of cyber threats. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in departments that interact with large volumes of data can help improve cybersecurity in the following three main categories:
Threat detection: AI platforms can analyze data and identify known threats as well as predict new ones.
Threat response: AI platforms also build and automatically enforce security protections.
Increased time for security professionals: Security professionals are often faced with repetitive tasks and alerts. Artificial intelligence can prevent employees from getting tired of doing repetitive and boring tasks by accepting a part of this work and providing automation mechanisms for big data analysis.
Other benefits of automation in cyber security include attack classification, malware classification, traffic analysis, adaptive analysis, and more.
Cyber security solutions available
Cyber security vendors usually offer different security products and services. Common security tools and systems are as follows:
- Identity and Access Management (IAM)
- Firewalls
- Endpoint protection
- Anti-malware
- Intrusion Prevention/Detection Systems (IPS/IDS)
- Data Loss Prevention (DLP)
- Endpoint detection and response
- Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
- Encryption tools
- Vulnerability scanners
- Virtual private networks
- Cloud Workload Protection Platform (CWPP)
- Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB)
- Familiarity with job opportunities in cyber security
As the cyber threat landscape continues to grow and new threats emerge, such as IoT threats, individuals with cybersecurity awareness and hardware and software skills are needed.
- Chief information security officer: is a person who implements the security program throughout the organization and supervises the operations of the information technology security department.
- Security specialist (Chief security office): is an executive who is responsible for the physical and/or cyber security of a company.
- Security engineers: protect company assets from threats, focusing on controlling the performance of IT infrastructure.
- Security architects: are responsible for planning, analyzing, designing, testing, maintaining and supporting the critical infrastructure of an organization.
- Security analysts: have multiple responsibilities that include planning security measures and controls, protecting digital files, and conducting internal and external security audits.
- Penetration testers: Ethical hackers who test the security of systems, networks, and applications, looking for vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious agents.
- Threat hunters: Threat analysts whose goal is to discover vulnerabilities, attacks and mitigate them before they endanger businesses.
Other cyber security jobs include security consultants, data protection officers, cloud security architects, security operations manager managers and analysts, managers and analysts. ), cryptographers and security administrators.
