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What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity involves techniques that help in securing various digital components  such as: network data, and computer systems from unauthorized digital access. There are multiple ways to implement cybersecurity depending on the kind of network you are connected to and the type of cyber-attacks you are prone to. Let's take a look at the various cyber-attacks that you could be exposed to. 

Malware Attacks

One of the most common types of cyberattacks, is malware attacks like Trojan adware and spyware to name a few. If you happen to download any suspicious attachments online, your system could get corrupted by certain malicious viruses embedded within the attachments.

Phishing Attacks

The phishing attack is a type of cyber-attack that an experienced hacker usually sends, in the form of  fraudulent emails. They appear to be coming from a legitimate source,  and is done to install malware or to steal sensitive data like credit card information and login credentials.

Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

This kind of attacks is where the hacker gains access to the information path between your device and the website's server. The hacker’s computer takes over an IP address, then, the communication line between you and the website is secretly intercepted. This commonly happens with unsecured Wi-Fi networks and also through malware.

Password Attacks

Here, your password could have been cracked by using either common passwords or trying all possible alphabetical combinations. This is the easiest way to hack a system.

Here are Some Cybersecurity Practices

To prevent future cyberattacks, you should implement a few cybersecurity practices.

First, install a firewall. As the name suggests, it is a virtual wall between your computer and the Internet, firewalls filter the incoming and outgoing traffic from your device to safeguard your network. Furthermore, they can either be software applications or hardware reinforcements. 

Secondly, implement honey pots just like how flowers attract bees. Dummy computer systems “Honey pots” are used to attract attackers. These systems are made to look vulnerable in order to deceive attackers. The results are good defense for the real system. In addition, you should also use unique alphanumeric passwords and antivirus software and start avoiding mail from unknown senders. 

What is the Impact of Cybercrime?

More and more organizations and private individuals are being affected, by the heavy financial losses and harm to their reputation that cyberattacks cause in today's digital world. Which results an organization's credibility to be diminished over time. 

A cyberattack is any malicious attempt to disrupt normal operations, gain unauthorized access to data, or sabotage computers. In order to protect against a cyberattack, it is important to have a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy in place to protect it from threats. Examples of threats include denial-of-service attacks and phishing scams.

Why Cybersecurity Awareness Is Important for Every Employee?

Cyberattacks are becoming more common in the modern world, they have become more sophisticated. It is important that people understand how to protect themselves from these attacks. By implementing many methods of security awareness, and providing employees with the opportunity to feel like they are contributing to the company, you can significantly lower the risk of being attacked.

IT Systems Administrators should be vigilant about implementing strong cybersecurity measures in order to ensure the safety and security of their company's IT systems. For example, it is strongly recommended that your passwords are updated regularly so that if you have one password which becomes compromised it won’t result in other system-compromising issues.

Traditional Security Awareness is Not Enough

The traditional approach of training employees to change their passwords is not enough when it comes to cyberattacks. Cyber hacking has the potential to be the downfall of many organizations, with 87% of companies reporting a security breach in the past year. A new generation of hacker techniques are vastly outperforming legacy defenses, with 87% of organizations reporting a security breach in the past year.

The best way to prevent cyberattacks is through implementing proactive, layered defense systems against current and emerging threats. These systems should include firewalls, intrusion detection systems both on-premise and cloud-based, access controls, endpoint protection tools for computers, privacy for data transfers and digital world data protection strategies.

The People are the biggest threat to your cybersecurity because they are more vulnerable than your technology itself. It is important that they have very strong passwords, that are changed periodically or get replaced by more secure but, easy-to-remember passwords that use either two or three words.

Advanced Persistent Threat (APT)

Let's have a look at a few of the cyberattacks that companies are subjected to. Public sector organizations and large corporations are widely exposed to this form of attack. Hackers gain access to networks for a prolonged period in order to continuously steal confidential information.

Companies have also witnessed denial of service attacks where networks are flooded with traffic, which leaves legitimate service requests. A variant of this is the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack when multiple systems are used to launch the attack. When a hacker manipulates a standard SQL query in a database-driven website, it is known as an SQL injection attack. By doing so, hackers can view, edit and delete tables from databases amidst a plethora of cyberattacks.

Cybersecurity Career

It is indeed a challenge for organizations with several networks and servers to ensure complete security. This is not an easy task. And to help with this, cybersecurity professionals are hired to work on identifying cyber threats and securing a company's network, there are multiple java roles in the field of cybersecurity. If hacking fascinates you, then the role of an ethical hacker is something to be explored. 

Such professionals try to expand network vulnerabilities just like a hacker would do,in order to identify those vulnerabilities and resolve them for protection against an actual cyberattack. But, if you are looking to design robust security structures, the role of a security architect is more apt. A chief information security officer, CISCO plays a crucial role in enterprise security and is entrusted with the overall safety of the information in an organization.

The Future of Cybersecurity 

With the increase in the production of global digital data, it is anticipated that cyberattacks will quadruple in the near future. Organizations are going to need cybersecurity professionals who can prevent these attacks. A career in the field of cybersecurity is lucrative and a very smart decision for professionals now. 

It is estimated that there will be a shortage of 1.8 million cybersecurity professionals globally by 2020.

As more people become increasingly reliant on digital technologies, the need for well-trained cybersecurity specialists is growing. With so many cybersecurity professionals retiring or leaving this industry, it's important to find ways to retain these valuable employees to help secure our digital lives and future.