Cybersecurity can be a very nuanced topic often littered with industry jargon. With an uptick in working from home, there has also been an increase in cybercrime as hackers are taking advantage of the pandemic, exploiting and preying on people who are uneducated about best practices. The only way to protect yourself from falling victim of a cyber attack is to educate yourself on what cybersecurity is, how to recognize it, and how to prevent it.
What Is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is the act of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information, according to the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
If you use the internet, have a laptop or a smartphone, you are a potential victim of a cyber attack. It is important to protect yourself because having poor cybersecurity puts you in danger of malware erasing your system, an attacker altering your files and using your computer to attack other people. They can also steal your personal information like your credit card information. You can prevent those attacks by adopting some form of cybersecurity.
What Are the Types of Cyber Security?
Knowing the different types of cybersecurity is imperative to protecting yourself against cyber attacks. They provide a means to make a hacker groan when attempting to steal your information.
- Information Security – This is also known as InfoSec and protects your physical and digital data from any unauthorized use, change, disclosure, deletion and other forms of malintent.
- Data Loss Prevention – Data loss prevention is something you or your company’s IT team can put into place. It consists of developing policies and processes for handling and avoiding the loss of data. In the event your system is compromised by a hacker, this also includes developing recovery policies.
- Network Security – Network security protects internal networks from intruders by securing an infrastructure. This includes things like multi-factor authentication and very strong passwords.
- Application Security – This type of cybersecurity is like an antivirus program, firewall or encryption. It uses software and hardware to protect against external threats that may show up in an app’s development stage.
- Cloud Security – Cloud security is a software-based tool that defends and keeps watch on your data that is in the cloud. This helps to eliminate the risks associated with on-premises attacks.
- End-User Education – A company’s weakest component in its cybersecurity is its employees. With end-user education, it involves teaching users, like yourself, how to follow best practices. It can also teach the different types of cyberattacks and how to look out for them.
How Can I Protect Myself?
Though there is not a one-fix, there are some things you can do to reduce your chances of being taken advantage of. Keep your software and devices up to date, use super strong passwords and do not use the same password for all your online accounts, install a firewall, and implement a two-factor authentication when logging online.
