Merriam-Webster defines cybersecurity as measures taken to protect a computer or computer system (on the internet) against unauthorized access or other negative actions. Since nearly everything most people interact with is some sort of computer or computer system on the Internet, cybersecurity is very important. Whether a business operates from “the cloud” (i.e. Netflix, AWS), a vehicle a person is driving, the TV service you’re watching (cable TV or Internet TV), or your home phone service via your cable company, cybersecurity is needed to protect these computer systems from unauthorized intrusions, disruptions, and other attacks from malicious threat actors.
Critical Infrastructure Uses Cybersecurity
For those of you who watch TV from an OTA antenna service (aka digital antenna) and have a POTS (aka landline) for your home phone, cybersecurity indirectly applies to you. The technology used to bring you service is owned and operated by companies and this technology is safeguarded from negative service impacts using a combination of physical security and cybersecurity.
Critical Infrastructure you and I use such as energy plants rely on cybersecurity to protect its computer networks from all threat actors.
Utilities that households, businesses, and other structures use are provided by companies that are considered a part of critical infrastructure. If you need to have a proper understanding of critical infrastructure, first you would need to know what the 16 critical infrastructure sectors are defined as. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), an important US government security organization (officially a part of the DHS), lists these 16 key infrastructure sectors on its website along with information about each respective sector:
- Chemical Sector
- Commercial Facilities Sector
- Communications Sector
- Critical Manufacturing Sector
- Dams Sector
- Defense Industrial Base Sector
- Emergency Services Sector
- Energy Sector
- Financial Services Sector
- Food and Agriculture Sector
- Government Services and Facilities Sector
- Healthcare and Public Health Sector
- Information Technology Sector
- Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
- Transportation System Sector
- Water and Wastewater Systems (Sector)
As I previously mentioned, Cybersecurity involves securing more than just your utilities. If you invest in securities and cryptocurrency, if you use public transportation to travel (including driving the US Interstate Highways), if you love fresh produce from the supermarket (for you juicer and smoothie people), then you directly or indirectly depend on cybersecurity to safeguard your goods and services so you can live the lifestyle you are accustomed to.
What Cybersecurity Is and Isn’t
Now that you know cybersecurity is an important part of your life, let’s talk about what cybersecurity is…and isn’t.
Although many people associate cybersecurity with businesses, its imperative the workers of those businesses practice cybersecurity at home as well as at work.
Cybersecurity isn’t just for big corporations to practice. It isn’t only for governments and foreign entities to handle to protect the people. Cybersecurity isn’t just for colleges and universities to practice to protect students, faculty, and alumni. No, EVERYONE needs to develop a cybersecurity mindset! Cybersecurity uses policies and procedures to create systems and practices to protect computers and computer networks against unauthorized access and/or otherwise negative issues stemming from actions by CERTAIN hackers (not all hackers are malicious) or what cybersecurity professionals call “threat actors.”
Are You a Threat Actor? You May Be An Insider Threat
Good cybersecurity practice is limiting or preventing the use of work PCs and phones to access personal accounts and other information.
Threat actors are the people, groups, and items that can compromise a computer’s or computer network’s security. Threat actors aren’t always malicious hackers or other nefarious people who seem to cause problems with our computers and computer networks. Many of the threat actors that network security professionals face today are “regular” people who don’t know that they’re performing actions that are threats to the security of their business, workplace, or even home computers and networks. For example, Bart hates passwords. He hates them with an unnatural and unhealthy passion. The main reason why he hates passwords is that he feels restricted by the rules that the sites he visits require. You know the rules. Some sites require a special character in the password. Some need both an upper case letter and a lower case letter and so on. To get around these rules, Bart decides to use one password for his work profile, his Yahoo Mail account, his LinkedIn profile, his medical record account profile, his gaming profile, and even his home Wifi password. Bart would be considered a certain type of threat actor – an insider threat – at his workplace. Insider threats don’t necessarily have malicious intent to compromise a computer or network’s security ( some do, but that’s another blog post!). They do so due to poor security practices such as using common/simple passwords, shared passwords, or using personal websites with a company asset (PC, phone, server, etc).
Password Security is Part of Good Cybersecurity Practices
Poor password security has led to significant security events over the years. These events have devastated businesses and negatively affected people’s lives. Poor password security can also lead to compromise of your home network and any information on it. Although malicious threat actors would rather steal information and money from businesses, they are not beyond stealing information from individuals like you and me.
Malicious threat actors look for lapses or vulnerabilities in personal and business networks. Poor password management by workers makes it easier for them to access these networks.
There are many other types of threat actors such as advanced persistent threats (APTs), cybercriminal groups/syndicates, “hacktivists”, nation-state hackers, script kiddies, and more. These threat actors have different reasons for their malicious actions. Most of these threat actors are motivated financially. Some are motivated by espionage (stealing sensitive information) and some are motivated by activism. Everyone should be aware of cybersecurity and everyone needs to practice good cybersecurity habits whether at work, school, home, or on vacation (for example, are your home Internet of Things, aka IoT devices connected to your Wi-Fi creating packets for wardrivers to collect while you’re away skydiving in Dubai? If this doesn’t make sense to you, please follow my blog and I’ll get you up to speed!). No one is safe or immune to cyberattacks. Everyone’s sensitive data, food supply, finances, and way of life are directly or indirectly impacted by the risks of cyber threats. Thank you for checking out this blog post. Please contact me if you have more questions, some concerns, or kudos to share. If you find this information helpful, share it with someone to help them also. I plan to produce more content about cybersecurity after the banner year which was 2024. That year included a large amount incidents of cyber attacks affecting many companies and individuals, so the time is now for people to know how to mitigate the risks these events cause them. If you have any cybersecurity stories to share that other readers may find useful, please leave them in the comments below.
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