Let’s Talk Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity. Where shall we begin? I’d say with education. Recently I read an article by Tony Bradley for Forbes, where he outlined the secret to comprehensive, scalable and effective cybersecurity. Cybersecurity is a high-demand, but consistently evolving field, if I must add. If anything, he reiterated the increasing importance of ongoing education and learning that’s needed to keep up with cybersecurity’s ever-changing landscape.
Research continues to show cybersecurity incidents are on the rise each year. Not only can cybersecurity breaches result in lost files, software or website corruption, but they can also result in a loss of assets and intellectual property, severely impacting businesses and organizations of all sizes. Bradley outlined three fundamental things that are essential for effective cybersecurity: visibility, context and scalability.
Businesses have struggled with cybersecurity since the dawn of cyber threats, but it is becoming more and more challenging as network infrastructure becomes more complex. What used to be a rack (or ten) of servers in a climate-controlled data center tucked away in the building somewhere has evolved into a hybrid or multi-cloud scenario with servers, applications, and data spread across the country and around the world over the internet.
The number of cyber attacks and their complexity is only expected to grow. Given this, it’s vital that businesses, organizations and especially cryptocurrency users step up their security maturity in all aspects of practice. Understanding the risks involved, along with the steps that can be taken to mitigate them, will help significantly decrease the number of cyber attacks that happen daily.
Amid the curiosity and hype surrounding cryptocurrency, cybersecurity is growing increasingly imperative as digital currencies gain considerable traction. For cryptocurrency users who seek to manage their own assets, following best practices for security and protection cannot be stressed enough. Going the extra mile to personally educate yourself on the foundational aspects of cybersecurity and how to protect your individual assets will serve you better than anything else and will make it immensely harder for a cybercriminal to access your data. The more you know and understand about the subject, the better your chances of staying protected are. Your cyber IQ is essential to your safety and privacy while navigating the internet and should be taken seriously.
As we manage more and more of our lives digitally, this means that anyone in any career field should have a basic understanding around keeping security up to par. Cybersecurity is not secluded to work protocols either; at home it will protect your own information as well. The consequence of the cybersecurity skills gap spreads far and wide and will leave platforms vulnerable to attack if cybersecurity education is not implemented.
So now you might be asking, where to get started? I recommend staying up to date on all things cybersecurity by reading cybersecurity and tech digests such as Cyber Insights or visiting the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education to better understand cyber hygiene basics and everything that is happening in the cyber world. Also this Cybersecurity 101 YouTube video is really helpful.
Creating a culture of consistent awareness to cyber threats is a must. Knowledge is power and with great power comes responsibility — so do your part.
