What you need to know about cybersecurity risk assessments
Types Of Cybersecurity
The term “Cybersecurity” gets thrown around a lot with many business operations being handled digitally these days. It is used as an umbrella term to refer to protecting yourself from digital crimes. In reality, there are many different types of cyber security. With multiple ways to attack a network, there must also be multiple ways to defend a network, too.
So, what are the biggest cybersecurity threats right now? Here are the top cybersecurity threats 2021 passed on to this year:
- Ransomware
- Social engineering
- Cloud vulnerabilities
- IoT (Internet of Things)
- Endpoint attacks
- Crpytojacking
- Third-party exposure
- Formjacking
- Patch management
- MITM Attacks (Man-in-the-middle Attacks)
Cyber security threats were magnified in 2020 because of the reliance on technology forced on the world during the pandemic. In 2022, the top 10 cyber security threats above are costing businesses billions of dollars and showing no signs of slowing down in the years to come.
You’ll need to do more than just download a “What is cyber security” PDF and read up on the subject to adequately protect your data. The cyber attackers active today are coordinated and well-funded. Your security measures need to be up to date and constantly monitored to ensure your company and your customers are protected.
Information security is a company-wide commitment. Everyone in the organization needs to do their part to adhere to security controls in order to keep security functioning effectively. Consider putting a cyber security PPT (Powerpoint) together to detail the types of cyber threats to educate your staff on what they are up against.
Human error is one of the main targets of cyberattacks. Knowledge is your first line of defense. Beyond keeping your employees trained comes the need for specialists. A dedicated security team can monitor security controls at all times to make sure that every attempt on your system gets handled before the damage is done.
Types Of Cybersecurity Jobs
In order to build an effective security team, you need to understand which types of cyber security jobs there are. There are a number of cyber security fields to fill in order to properly cover your bases. Here are jobs in the cyber security career path for you to consider for your team and outsourcing purposes:
- Security analyst. One of the best entry-level cyber security jobs available, a security analyst monitors the system for security breaches, develops strategies for protection, and helps endpoint users with security controls and procedures.
- Information security specialist. The information security specialist is responsible for direct protection against cyber attacks. By coordinating employee security training, maintaining firewalls and other security software, and staying up to date with new security risks, a security specialist can expect an entry-level cyber security jobs salary on par with other similar positions of approximately $90,000.
- Security systems administrator. This person is usually in charge of daily cyber security operations within your organization. Taking care of things like regular data backups, coordinating with security teams to respond to threats, and participating in security audits, the security systems administrator falls in the mid-level positions of the cyber security hierarchy.
- Penetration Tester. Also known as pen testers, this role specifically tests how vulnerable a system is to security breaches of all kinds. This includes social engineering to extract sensitive information from employees, breaching firewalls, and web application breaches. They will also provide detailed reporting of vulnerabilities and outline potential remedies for the weaknesses. Sometimes, they can even help in the event of a real attack.
- Security Architect. This is the role in charge of planning and building your security system from the ground up. One of the highest paying cyber security jobs in the industry, they are in charge of building and maintaining the network security system, coordinating security operations across all departments, and conducting regular cyber security drills.
- Chief information officer. An executive within the company, the CIO is the person in charge of overseeing the entire security department. Managing the team and available resources, sourcing security tools, and leading risk mitigation efforts to ensure compliance with security regulations.
- IT auditor. An IT auditor is in charge of making sure a security system is up to the set standards and assists with identifying possible inefficiencies to improve upon. They perform the audits and build pans to fix the areas of security that came up short.
For government cyber security jobs, salary can vary slightly in the entry-level positions but remains consistent with the industry for management roles. There are other types of cyber security jobs and salary ranges for different industries, but the roles above can apply to most organizations looking to secure their data. Keep in mind that these roles require hours and hours of certification training and years of experience. When building your budget for cyber security, salary is a big factor if you need to bring in another professional to fill the gaps.
Basics Of Cybersecurity
Before you can do anything about your organization’s security team, you have to understand the basics of cyber security. You don’t need to download a copy of any student-crafted cyber security lecture notes PPT to get an answer to “What is cyber security?” Sure, cyber security notes from a good student might give you some of what you need, but there are better resources available.
When it comes to learning the basics of cybersecurity, 2020 gave the world all kinds of resources. Because of the pandemic, people needed ways to work, and learn from home, and hackers saw big opportunities to attack. This led to an increase in the need for organizations to educate employees on cyber security while they worked from home in order to prevent endpoint attacks.
Getting a good grasp on the basics of cyber security is the key to being effective in your security controls. You may want to consider downloading our e-book on “10 Cyber Risk Management Issues Every Business Needs to Address” or check out our infographic on the “Top 10 Things Every SaaS Company Should Do to Protect Their Data.“
Types Of Cybersecurity Threats
As stated above, the advantages of cybersecurity are maximized by understanding the types of cybersecurity threats you are up against. There are some of the most common cyber attacks listed above, but the list goes on. The longer the internet exists, the more internet threats come into existence.
How many types of cybersecurity exist to defend people and networks against the ever-increasing number of threats? Very similar to the list above, the types of cybersecurity are directly related to the threats they counter. Here are some cybersecurity examples:
- Internet of things security
- Application security
- Critical infrastructure security
- Network security
- Cloud security
Each type of security lines up with the types of threats it can counter. There is no one type of security that can protect against all threats. If there were, there would be no need to build teams to defend networks.
Since you know the answer to questions like, “What are security threats and its types?” we can start to understand the various types of security threats. People will often ask, “What are the 4 types of cyber threats?” When these questions come up, it indicates how little the average person knows about the types of computer threats they likely face every day.
In the first section of the article, we outlined the top 10 cyber security threats 2022 is being plagued by now. Each threat targets a different aspect of cyber activity or connectivity. Social engineering targets the human element while man-in-the-middle attacks target easily accessible public networks. Cloud vulnerabilities attack cloud security to gather sensitive data and patch management attacks target outdated software. Anytime there is a lapse in cyber security, a hacker finds a way it can be exploited.
Making sure you have a team of experts that know the many methods of attacks they need to defend against is invaluable in the current climate of cyber security. With new attack methods being developed each year, cyber security experts are a necessary addition to any company that handles data.
To get a head start on identifying vulnerabilities and help defend your network from all types of security threats, contact Trava to learn more about how you can scan your systems for weak points.