What is Cybersecurity?

Depending on where you look or which site definition you read, cybersecurity definitions will vary slightly based on the individual’s experience in the field. Before we cover what it is, let us cover what it is not. Cybersecurity while it includes information security, is not information security alone. Information security is the security discipline that focuses solely on protecting data and information. Cybersecurity however includes a series of security disciplines with the main goal of securing infrastructure, people, systems, networks, data, and other IT assets. To accomplish this cybersecurity professionals must be familiar with the various aspects of each security discipline and how they apply within the framework or business unit of which they are responsible for securing.

Cybersecurity accomplishes the four primary goals of preventing, detect, respond, and recover through the application of these various security disciplines. Many Cybersecurity programs are driven primarily by compliance regulations and laws, and while this is important as it could impact the organization’s bottom line, a compliant organization is not a secure organization. A secure organization will always be a compliant organization.