Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity refers to any technologies, practices and policies for preventing cyberattacks or mitigating their impact. Cybersecurity aims to protect computer systems, applications, devices, data, financial assets and people against ransomware and other malware, phishing scams, data theft and other cyberthreats.
At the enterprise level, cybersecurity is a key component of an organization’s overall risk management strategy. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, global spending on cybersecurity products and services will exceed USD 1.75 trillion total during the years 2021 through 2025.1
Cybersecurity job growth is also robust. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that “employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 32% from 2022 to 2032, faster than the average for all occupations.”2
Why cybersecurity is important !
Cybersecurity may be defined as any of the technologies, practices or policies in use to prevent cyber-crises from happening or their effects from being felt. Protection of computers, applications, devices, data, finances and people against ransomware and other malware, phishing scams, data thefts and other cyber threats is the goal of cybersecurity.
According to IBM's latest Cost of a Data Breach Report,
- The average cost of a data breach jumped to USD 4.88 million from USD 4.45 million in 2023—a 10% spike and the highest increase since the pandemic.
- Resulting in lost business costs (revenue loss due to system downtime, lost customers and reputation damage) and post-breach response costs (costs to set up call centers and credit monitoring services for affected customers or to pay regulatory fines), which rose nearly 11% over the previous year.
- The number of organizations paying more than USD 50,000 in regulatory fines as a result of a data breach rose 22.7% over the previous year; those paying more than USD 100,000 rose 19.5%.
Cybersecurity challenges
Besides scale, the work’s changing nature, reflected in the growing variety of cyberattacks, remains one of the biggest challenges for cybersecurity professionals to face at the moment where the IT environment continues to develop and expand rapidly. This labyrinth of new opportunities for business and, at the same time, individual development, or even improved Internet connection, is full of opportunities for new threats and cybercriminals.
- The Pervasive use of cloud computing expands network handling tasks and can raise the likelihood of cloud misconfigurations, improperly protected APIs, and other entry points culprits can access.
- Increased usage of remote work, the model of work from home and hot desking, and the use of BYOD increases the number of connections, devices, applications and data that needs protection. As Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices continue to spread and evolve people have many of
- As the number of Internet of Things (IoT), and other smart devices is growing exponentially, and many of which don’t have any inherent security, or in best case have rudimentary security measure that are easy to breach.
- The emergence of generative AI as a subcategory of AI creates an entirely new threat spectrum never used before through techniques such as prompt injection and such. To the authors’ knowledge, only 24% of generative AI projects have secured funding as stated in a latest research done by the IBM® Institute for Business Value.
Types of cybersecurity
- AI security
- Critical infrastructure security
- Network security
- Endpoint security
- Application security
- Cloud security
- Information security
- Mobile security
AI Security :
AI security can be classified as safeguard measures or technologies that arrest or reduce the risks and attacks of utilizing artificial intelligence in applications, systems, or in connection with other cybercrimes with AI or artificial intelligence’s involvement. The problem is that generative AI introduces new intrusion vectors to threat actors. Bogus dialog boxes can be used to control AI applications, while data feeds can be contaminated to alter the output of AI systems while the AI instruments themselves can be led into divulging confidential facts. They have also used (and can use) generative AI for generating viruses and phishing mails, etc. AI security relies on industry-specific risk management frameworks – and, more recently, AI-based cybersecurity solutions – to guard the AI risk exposure. A report by the Cost of a Data Breach 2024 Report mapped the use of AI and automation of security tools and that firms with the most advanced AI shield saw 2.2m lower average cost of cyber breach than firms with no AI.
Critical infrastructure security:
Critical infrastructure security safeguards the computer systems/plants, applications/networks, data & digital assets on which a society relies for national security, economic stability, and public welfare. In the United States, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a cybersecurity framework available to IT suppliers and other stakeholders supporting critical infrastructure.5 The US Department of Homeland Security has a Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) that also provides guidance.6
Network security:
Network security focuses on preventing unauthorized access to networks and network resources. It also helps ensure that authorized users have secure and reliable access to the resources and assets they need to do their jobs.
Application security:
Application security is a method used to protect applications and data related to these applications from misuse. It also assists in finding out possible problems, weaknesses or even failure in the system application. DevOps and DevSecOps practices that have now become common in today’s app development, integrate security and security testing into each development phase.
Cloud security:
Cloud security secures an organization’s cloud-based services and assets, including applications, data, virtual servers and other infrastructure.
Generally speaking, cloud security operates on the shared responsibility model. The cloud provider is responsible for securing the services that they deliver and the infrastructure that delivers them. The customer is responsible for protecting their data, code and other assets they store or run in the cloud.
Information security and data security:
Information security (InfoSec) protects an organization’s important information—digital files and data, paper documents, physical media—against unauthorized access, use or alteration.
Data security, the protection of digital information, is a subset of information security and the focus of most cybersecurity-related InfoSec measures.
Mobile security:
Mobile security encompasses cybersecurity tools and practices specific to smartphones and other mobile devices, including mobile application management (MAM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM).
