Here is how the cyber security helps to make our online information secure. Also check out Principale of Cyber security confidentiality, Integrity & Availibilty
1. WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF CYBER SECURITY?
Cyber Security, also known as, Information Technology Security, is a cluster of
technologies, processes, and practices that are designed to protect the data, networks,
devices, and programs from attack, damage, and unauthorized access.
There are principles of cybersecurity [CIA]:
CONFIDENTIALITY
Any information which is sensitive should be shared with a limited number of
people, for example, the credit card information.
INTEGRITY
Integrity involves keeping the information from being altered or hampered.
AVAILABILITY
Availability involves ensuring that the people who rely on accurate information
are able to access it. Availability is often related to integrity.
Cybersecurity in recent years has become a matter of concern. With the industries
relying on storing their data digitally, the need for cybersecurity has increased fourfold.
Government organizations, financial organisations, corporate organizations, medical
organizations, all store their data digitally and most of the information they store is
subjected to negative consequences if exposed to cybercrime. Therefore, investing in
cybersecurity has become significant.
1. The rising cost of breaches
The cost of cyber attacks can be very expensive for businesses to encounter.
The average cost of a data breach fora larger firm is about 20000 pounds. This is
just the numerical value of the expense of the data breach. The real cost is way
too larger than this.
Data breach not only causes financial expense but it also leads to untold
reputational damage. Cyberattack causes the customers to lose trust in a
business. Also once the reputation is at stake, it creates a lot of trouble in
winning the new contracts.
2. Increasingly sophisticated hackers
With the growing digital trend, every business has a website and some systems
which are externally exposed providing the hackers with the entry points of the
internal networks. The hackers gain a lot from successful cyber attacks. There
2. are countless examples of well funded and coordinated data breaches against
some of the big companies in the United Kingdom. Deloitte, the globe’s largest
cybersecurity consultant was itself a victim of a cyber attack in October 2017.
Cyber attacks being a common phenomenon nowadays, the businesses should
prepare themselves well in advance and take necessary precautions and
implement controls that will help the in riposting to the malicious activities before
they cause any damage and disruptions.
3. Widely available hacking tools
Not only the highly skilled and well-funded hackers pose a threat to the
businesses but due to the commercialization of cybercrimes, a wide variety of
hacking programs and tools are available on the internet, making it easy for
anyone to obtain resources needed to launch cyber attacks like ransomware and
crypto mining. This has lead to the emergence of the threat from the less skilled
individuals as well.
4. Proliferation of IoT devices
There has been an emergence of more and more smart devices that are
connected to the internet. These devices are called the Internet of Things or IoT
devices which are very commonly found in houses and offices. These devices
simplify and speed up the tasks, and offer a greater level of control and
accessibility.
If these IoT devices are not managed properly, then each of these devices can
create a way for hackers into the business. In the coming time, this problem will
increase as more and more devices will be connected to the internet.
IoT Devices brings with it a wide range of security weaknesses and therefore it is
necessary to conduct regular vulnerability assessments in order to identify and
address the risks caused by these devices.
5. Tight Regulations
Not only does the cyber attacks require the businesses to take precautions but
also the hard and fast guidelines require the businesses to take cybersecurity
seriously.
The European Union has introduced regulations such as GDPR, under which the
organizations are needed to take security very seriously or face heavy penalties.
This has forced the organisations to take better care of the personal data they
have. Organizations are also forced to implement appropriate technical and
organizational methods to protect the personal data, review controls and in
addition to this detect, investigate and report breaches.
3. These are amongst a few risks which the cyber attacks cause. As the volume of and
sophistication of cyber attacks is growing, the companies and organizations, especially
those which are mainly working for safeguarding the information related to national
security, health or financial records, are required to take measures to protect their
sensitive business and personnel information.
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