are at the beginning of a decade where digital data creation has surged than ever before. The world relies on technology as its backbone. The government and businesses have moved on to digital lockers and cloud storages from physical devices. A paradigm shift that has inturn changed the type of threats and attacks on critical data indeed! These underlying systems have vulnerabilities, when attacked; cause devastating consequence for an organization. Should cybersecurity or information security be implemented? The two would sound like synonyms and is often confused or perhaps be defined as a subset of the other. The security professionals and organizational decision-makers should be aware of the differences than using the term alternately to find their optimal solutions.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the ability to protect or defend the use of cyberspace from cyber attacks. It is all about protecting data that is found in electronic form (such as computers, servers, networks, mobile devices, etc.) from being compromised or attacked. Part of that is identifying what the critical data is, where it resides, its risk exposure, and the technology you have to implement to protect it. In a nutshell, it is referred to as ICT, i.e. hardware and software. Malware, Ransomware, Data breach, Phishing, Social Engineering and Spoofing are examples of cyber attacks.
What is Information Security?
Information security is described as the prevention of unauthorized access or alteration during the time of storing data or transferring it from one machine to another. The information can be biometrics, social media profile, data on mobile phones etc. Information security is created to cover three objectives of confidentiality, integrity and availability or as commonly known as CIA. Policies like access control and password security are basic steps taken by organizations to prevent unauthorized access.
Difference between Cyber Security and Information Security
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Cyber Security |
Information Security |
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· Protects attack in cyberspace such as data, storage, devices, sources etc · Deals with cybercrimes, cyber frauds and law enforcement · Handled by professionals trained to deal with advanced persistent threats (APT) · Organizations use security ratings to quickly and easily communicate the scale and severity of risk in their own
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· Protects data from any form of threat regardless of being analogue or digital · Deals with unauthorized access, disclosure modification and disruption of data · Lays the foundation of data security · Professionals are trained to prioritize resources first before eradicating the threats or attacks. · Information security analyst, information security officer, cryptographer and penetrations testers are some of the job roles |
IT infrastructure development and security is now considered crucial for the health of all organizations. It’s essential to adopt and implement a strong cybersecurity approach. Awareness of the specific roles of Cybersecurity experts and Information Security experts are better in recent times and businesses are investing more in hiring the right talent to protect their data. Like how the Armed Forces ensure national security, Cybersecurity Experts safeguard cyberspace! Thereby the demand for trained and certified professionals is increasing globally.
This blog is written by Deepa Dwarkanath with inputs from experts and other references
References:
https://www.bitsight.com/blog/cybersecurity-vs-information-security
https://www.forcepoint.com/cyber-edu/cybersecurity
https://analyticsindiamag.com/difference-between-cybersecurity-information-security/