What Is Cybersecurity ?
The effects of digitalization make life easier for millions of people and companies that, thanks to the power of computerization, manage all kinds of everyday aspects of their day-to-day life through standard devices such as their smartphones or their computer.
But it also facilitates the activity of entities that, hidden in the shadows, try to take advantage of the cracks and vulnerabilities of our computing devices.
Its objective is to access them to control them or extract all the personal and corporate information they find in their path.
Cybersecurity (or computer security) is that superhero that is here to face the enemy and protect us from the dangers of computer security:
- spot the bandit
- Analyze your weak points
- Neutralizes it even before the population felt the presence of the enemy
What Is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the set of actions and maneuvers to protect computer equipment and network connections against possible attacks or attempts to steal information or control the device.
The meaning of computer security is the result of the combination of the prefix Ciber, which is related to all aspects related to Computer Science. And Security, which is synonymous with protection and support methods against some attack.
Its operation is based on implementing software and hardware techniques and tools that implement barriers to prevent unknown access to our information and protect ourselves and expel the enemy in the event of a breach.
What Devices Does Cybersecurity Affect?
The definition of cybersecurity is straightforward and allows us to affirm that it affects any person, company, and all types of technological devices.
If we want to understand what cybersecurity is full of, we must know how it affects us and our computer equipment.
The truth is that the vast majority of devices that connect to the Internet or some network have doors through which they could suffer some kind of vulnerability.
From a computer or a Smartphone to a router, a WiFi connection, a television with Smart TV, and even the watch you wear.
The mission of computer security is to protect these doors and, if they are corrupted, take care of expelling the threat.
What Are The Objectives Of Cybersecurity?
Computer security’s objectives can be easily classified into three categories: Prevention, detection, and recovery.
What Is Preventive Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is responsible for establishing means that guarantee protection and inaccessibility within our devices.
This is the most common type of computer security for the simple reason that computer security is so advanced that, in most cases, it will have the purpose of shielding our devices, software, and networks against any threat.
And it is solvent enough for us to rest easy, as long as the appropriate protection measures are put in place.
Meaning Of Detection Cybersecurity
Given the possibility of becoming the victim of an attack, cybersecurity is in charge of discovering possible cracks that put our devices and networks at risk.
Detection can happen before the attack occurs or when the threat is already inside.
Detection cybersecurity is responsible for discovering any fraudulent action against our system: from an attempt to steal a password to the strange unnatural manipulation of information or suspicious access to the system.
What Is Recovery Cybersecurity
If the attacker manages to break through our barriers despite establishing prevention and detection methods, then we adopt a recovery cybersecurity strategy.
This type of Security is responsible for establishing the methods to isolate and expel the threat through the least harmful channels possible.
It also performs all restoration and recovery tasks and the implementation of new protection methods that keep us alert to future attacks of the exact nature.
Does Cybersecurity Affect Me Too?
The answer could not be more straightforward: of course, you are affected by cybersecurity.
Anyone who uses a connected device, like this one from which you read us, is affected by computer security.
It is essential to keep this in mind to understand cybersecurity since it affects every moment of your life.
Some notes on cybersecurity:
- Cybersecurity is a branch of computing that has gained value now that we are all constantly connected.
- Computer security at the enterprise level gains importance since its effects can be especially damaging here.
- Computer security aims to protect us from any attack, whether actively or running, without noticing.
It affects you passively, without you even realizing it. Both through your computer’s operating system and through its applications and programs that already take measures against possible attacks.
But also actively, since you should be aware of the measures to prevent and avoid a cyberattack, as we told you about in this article.
And considering that we are always connected to some device, it affects us at all times.
Some Types Of Cybersecurity
We will not understand computer security without understanding what types of attacks usually protect us against.
Social Engineering
It is the type of attack that has gained the most fame in recent years. It consists of the manipulation and deception of the victim, convincing him through direct communication, person to person.
The attacker resorts to tricks so that the other person provides us with their data or the companies.
It is usually executed through social networks or Internet sites such as forums, blogs, or second-hand stores, but it could also happen using email features or even a phone call.
Phishing
This type of attack against which computer security protects us is based on identity theft.
The attacker configures their communication channels so that the victim thinks that they are conversing with a brand or a company.
In reality, we are communicating with a hacker who has copied the website, advertising, or email design of the brand he imitates to make us believe that we have to facilitate control or access to our data.
Malware
Malware is malicious software that manages to install itself on our computer and run to access our data.
Suppose cybersecurity is concerned about this type of attack. In that case, it is because, in most cases, they will be executed without us noticing, such as when we have a disease, but we are asymptomatic. This is the case of viruses, Trojans, or worms.
Here we compare the characteristics of a computer virus and a biological virus.
Other malware, such as ransomware, act just the opposite: they let us know that they possess our computer to ask us to release their hostage for a ransom.
