- Cybersecurity is a hot buzzword these days,
but what is it?
The term cybersecurity first emerged
into our collective consciousness in 1994
according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary,
so it's a pretty new idea.
We can't even agree how to spell it yet.
Is it one word?
Do we use a hyphen?
It is two words?
Does it matter?
While the term first showed up in 1994,
it didn't really enter the mainstream until 2010.
And even then it was considered
by information security professionals
to be a highly sensationalized term,
more appropriate for television and movies.
Although it's gained some legitimacy
in professional circles,
the definition of cybersecurity is not as widely agreed to
as the definition of information security.
Some people think the two terms are synonymous
or that cybersecurity is a subset
or a superset of information security.
Some people say cybersecurity is just a newer
and possibly more silly term
for computer security or network security.
But the term cybersecurity is important
for implementing an information security program,
so I'm going to define it.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology
in the United States defines it as the ability to protect
or defend the use of cyberspace from cyber attacks.
Now, the NIST definition's okay,
but when they say cyberspace, we'll say Internet.
Also, their definition doesn't talk about risk,
and we'll need to deal with that,
because risk is an important input to prioritizing
where we'll deploy the limited resources we have
for our information security program.
So for our purposes, let's define cybersecurity
as the actions we take to reduce the risks
of being connected to the Internet down to a level
that's acceptable to our employer or customer.
And that's cybersecurity.