Kostopoulos stated that “every business is a cyber business.” He wasn’t wrong. In today’s society, every business has some dependence and tie to technology and the internet, creating a cyber society. With such dependence, the role of cybersecurity is becoming more and more integral to the operation and success of any business.
The twentieth century gave way to a huge technological and
cyber revolution. Fueled by the advances in technology the world created the
World Wide Web, a “virtual oxygen of the planet.” (Kostopoulos, 2013) Even
though industry specific global networks existed prior to the internet in
sectors like banking and telecommunications, the revolution of the internet has
created a much larger societal reliance.
In today’s world it is imperative for trusted data to meet four
major principles; confidentiality, integrity, availability and non-repudiation.
In order to meet these principles cybersecurity must be employed.
The idea of technology being turned against us isn’t
new. The are many science fiction movies
of the robots turning on us and in today’s TV landscape, almost every medical
and procedural drama has had some sort of episode focusing on a cyber attack. All this being said, we are only as smart as
the last attack. It is difficult to plan
for the unknown. Cyberattacks as we know
them attack the systems we use every day, from hacking to spying to malicious intent. Having the right protocols in place helps
protect us from those things. (Sathnur, 2019).
Technological attacks have evolved significantly from something
as simple as programming a machine to do something other than intended with
malicious intent and having to physically be in the system, to an attacker not
even needing to be in the same country.
A cyberattack today could originate from thousands of miles away and
cripple your system by having you click a button in a random site or email. Many
cyberattacks would affect the hardware in the system, even if they are initiated
through software. For example an attacker could control the hardware and
technologically controlled machines in a hospital by virtually taking control
of the entire system.
Cybersecurity has a large role in programming. First, the
right coding and programming could protect you from a cyberattack. Historically, the thought in programming was
to have the least amount of code to execute the functions due to the
limitations of size and speed. However,
as this is less of a concern now, redundancies through resident and transient design. Similar to how RAM and hard disk space work,
the program can be coded in a way that only the relevant functions can be
brought forward, thus allowing protection to be coded into the program or
system without slowing down the process.
Application software plays a role in cybersecurity as it
also has to be secure and many times an application can be the source of the problem.
For example, there are many concerns about the tik tok application as it was
seen as a national security threat and at one point was threatened with a shut
down. An application that looks
legitimate could also be spyware or a program that tracks your movements. It is important to know the application that
is being downloaded and trust the builder of the application.
Many cyberattacks are targeted on databases of
information. Information for users can
be sold on the dark web and used for malicious intent, such as identity theft
or other financial gain. Database
administrators must be vigilant in policing the data and making sure it is
secure. Even with al the security measures,
attacks and breaches can happen. Having
a strong incident response plan is just as important as preventative security.
As stated before we are only as smart as the most recent
attack. Criminals are always finding new
ways to get through the loopholes and exploit weaknesses. It is imperative for all industries to have a
strong protection and remediation plan in place, should a cyberattack occur. Cybersecurity is quickly becoming the most
important part of a technology plan and it is important that companies understand
the value of the expense in strong cybersecurity. Training staff and users to understand the types
of attacks that exist and educating them on how to avoid these types of attacks
are the strongest defense. Be safe and protect yourself!
Kostopoulos, G. K. (2013). Cyberspace and cybersecurity. CRC Press.
Sathnur, A. (2019). The business of cybersecurity : foundations and ideologies. Business Expert
Vahid, F., & Lysecky, S. (2017). Computing
technology for all.
Retrieved from zybooks.zyante.com
Press.
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