The truth about CyberSecurity

Many articles have been written about CyberSecurity. Most have focused on the broad meaning of the term and in some cases have treated CyberSecurity as an "off-the-shelf" product. The truth is that CyberSecurity is more complicated than that. In this article, we will discuss some of the reasons why Cyber Security is not only difficult to define, but just how complex it really is.

Cybersecurity is security applied to computers, computer networks, the data stored and transmitted over them; protecting systems and data from an ever-evolving range of threats. It becomes more complicated in the context of today’s threat landscape, that is not only constantly changing but is also expanding at an increasingly fast rate. This is the most problematic element of CyberSecurity; its evolution is so fast and unpredictable, and the nature of the risks involved are constantly changing.

The traditional role of the CSO (Chief Security Officer) and CIO (Chief Information Officer) has changed a lot over the past five years. The focus on managing security by diverting resources to the most crucial system components in order to reduce the likelihood of a successful breach is now considered an insufficient approach in the current environment of cyber threats. Threats are changing faster than traditional risk management approaches can deal with, and a more proactive and adaptive approach is needed to manage an effective CyberSecurity strategy. It is essential that decision makers take a forward-looking approach and take the necessary steps to tackle evolving threats before they reach their front door or the unattended back-door. To achieve this, business leaders and decision makers need to have a detailed knowledge of their corporate environment, where its vulnerabilities and weaknesses are, and have a good understanding of the ongoing threats that could exploit them.

Good security management and Cyber Threat Assessment is a continuous effort and by following best practices, most organisations will be able to keep themselves safe from the most common and opportunistic cyber threats. Bear in mind that the security posture of a business is as strong as its weakest link. The process of identifying those weak links, increasingly over the past few years, has shifted from a “Risk Management Exercise” to a “CyberSecurity Threat Assessment”.

-- This is a blog post I created for Sysnet and I am reposting it here for historical purposes. This was originally posted here.