WHAT ON EARTH IS CYBER SECURITY?

BY LUBNA ABU-RUMMAN

Cybersecurity a concept mentioned everywhere. When heard, we picture an antagonist known as “The hacker,” represented as a teen in black clothes facing a black-green screen, chased by a government agent wearing sunglasses, this typical scenario is what Hollywood tends to show us in their movies and not the reality.

Cybersecurity Origins

The word “cyber” has ancient Greek origins in “kubernetikos’’ meaning “good at piloting”, with time evolved into the French word “cybernetique” meaning “the art of governing”, however, Norbert Wiener who popularized “cyber” in his 1948 book on cybernetics making the way for its modern meaning that relates to computers and networks.

Modern Cybersecurity

Information security protects both digital and physical and it’s branch Cybersecurity, which aims to protect digital data and computer systems.

Beginning of Security.

When the first computer existed between 1940s-1950s, security began with protecting the physical components of these machines.

When networks started to develop between 1960s-1970s, security showed importance after the first concept of a virus appeared named “Creeper” infecting computers and spreading to others. It displayed a message “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can!” Soon after the first concept of antivirus “Reaper” appeared, countering it. It wasn’t malicious, after all its intention was to prove a concept.

1980s-1990s, the internet expansion encouraged the development of firewalls and encryption technologies, viruses weren’t as malicious as the next era.

1990s-2000s, the hacker’s golden age and the malware epidemic era. The rise of e-commerce and online services led to increasing hacking. Cybersecurity measures were found to protect data. Most famous viruses appeared like the “ILOVEYOU” virus or “Love Letter Virus”, considered one of the most destructive and widespread computer viruses in history.

2010s witnessed the expansion of IoT devices (Internet of Things devices like Smart Mobiles, smart refrigerators…etc), laking robust security measures causing new viruses and more hacking groups to appear like “Strontium” a state-sponsored Russian hacking group that went after IoT devices .

Till the present, where the rise of AI and machine learning is used in different tasks like detecting and responding to threats or for malicious tasks like creating deepfake data. With this brief history, notice how Cybersecurity evolves usually after incidents.

Internet Safety is Gun Safety

Social media, where lives are shared constantly almost non-stop. Like sharing our opinions, or uploading pictures of ourselves. This is called “data’’. We might ask, “Why should I hesitate to share my life?” Or “I’m at low risk of cyber attacks”. That might be true, however, that doesn’t mean that you won’t be used for a bigger cause, in simpler terms, you won’t be targeted as a person, but as a tool to reach a certain goal without noticing, like opening an unknown email attachment through work computers. One famous form of cyber attacks is these scamming messages or websites like websites that pretend to “hack” game currency; usually used by unsupervised children. Just to note a lot of cyber crimes use social engineering more than coding. All of the previously mentioned are simple examples of cyber threats, so any protection won’t be effective without internet safety.

What is Internet Safety?

The practice of protecting yourself, your information, and your digital devices while using the internet and being aware of potential online threats, such as viruses, malware, phishing, identity theft, blackmailing, cyberbullying. Steps to reduce these risks include using strong and unique passwords, updating antivirus programs constantly, being cautious when sharing personal information online, and avoiding suspicious websites and email attachments. It also involves being cautious about the information you consume and share by ensuring that it’s from trustworthy sources to avoid falling victim to misinformation, scams, or rumors.

Cybersecurity is a Big Term.

Cybersecurity is a big umbrella containing numerous fields like Cryptography, Security Awareness Officer, Vulnerability Researcher and Exploit Developer …etc but unfortunately, people tend to desire “penetration testing,” known as “ethical hacking”.

Cybersecurity Applications.

Cyber security matters everywhere, even in the simplest places. After all, your data is always desired. But not everyone labeled as a hacker aims for bad. Some of them aim to do good by gathering and forming a community. One example that demonstrates this concept is the Trace Labs project that appeared around 2017-2018.

With the rise of wars and poverty, more people go missing under unknown circumstances. Those who aren’t immediately found usually end up in human trafficking. Here comes Trace lab, a nonprofit organization funded by donations. Led by volunteering hackers, private investigators and security professionals cooperating with authorities to help find missing people collecting information and provide it to the authorities that pursue the appropriate course of action.They only do OSINT (Open-source intelligence). If you’re skilled enough, try to join the search party or participate in their CTF; however, joining them is not for the faint-hearted as a lot of their cases have dark elements in them.

Cybersecurity evolves daily after all, “Cybersecurity is not just a technology issue; it’s a people issue, and it’s a process issue” - Stephanie Helm, Chief Risk Officer at Palo Alto Networks.