Cybersecurity in a Nutshell : The State of Affairs

THE PRECIPICE

Security is important now more than ever as society has taken its technological interests more seriously and more personally. Information of a private nature is transmitted virtually nowadays to extents that were not conceivable in the past. The nature of tech use has changed so drastically over the last few years, and so have the attendant threats.

Threats have migrated from the relative simplicity of Red Worm to malicious variants that have been designed to hold organizations' and individuals' information ransom, trading such information on the dark web regardless of the ransom paid or not, and even attacking cloud infrastructure --the basis of most information and communication systems and/or processes. Ultimately, identities must be protected.

THE STAND

The need for conforming to cybersecurity frameworks becomes more apparent and the power of sharing common vulnerabilities and exposures lies at the heart of it. Architectural concerns along the lines of network and host architecture while implementing these frameworks form the basis of understanding cyber security. Cyber analysts have to detect and isolate packets, throttling traffic, black-holing, ARP poisoning, hardening images and installing effective intrusion detection and protection systems as well as antiviruses. Various aspects of individual and organizational information need to be secured physically and virtually to keep things running smoothly.

The governance, risk and compliance that govern the way these activities are carried out and the extent to which clients' data is secured also give room for maneuvering while keeping the cybersphere safe. All these are quantified more accurately by looking at the domains available and the tools and manners of securing them.

Networks, Identity and Access Management systems, Federated Identity Management Systems, Cloud domains, and Data GRC--all need protective measures such as firewalling, intrusion systems, proxies, routers, encrypted tunneling, antiviruses, modified networking topography, scans, redundancy and penetration testing to ensure they run without downtime.

WAGING WAR

The skill set of analysts has to grow along with that of the security teams and contribute to effective incident response and de-escalation priorities. Storage must be secured in the event of backup and recovery procedures having to come into play. There is also a need for transparency from affected organizations to drive stakeholder involvement in securing their facilities from physical and virtual attacks.

Security in the cyber space has become an increasingly concerted effort and the power of sharing should not be taken for granted in it. Networking and staying alert go hand in hand when tackling foes that can neither be seen nor heard.