Everyday technological miracle is happening. New technologies are coming and impacting our lives and businesses.

The information technology (IT) trends of the past few years—the rise in cloud computing adoption, online banking, Online travel booking, driving connected car remote work & working from home, connecting with friends and family online, and connected devices and sensors in everything from doorbells to cars to assembly lines.

These conveniences could be a problem if you don’t have a well-protected system. Cyberattacks have the power to disrupt, damage, or destroy businesses and people’s lives. These cyber security risks can cause losses of billions of dollars to any organization. The average cost of a data breach in 2023 was USD 4.45 million, up 15 percent over the last years.

What is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is the measure or practice for preventing cyberattacks and mitigating cyber risk by protecting internet-connected individuals’ and organizations’ systems such as hardware, software, and sensitive data.

Types of cybersecurity (cybersecurity domains)

Cybersecurity can be categorized into ten different types based on where it is impacting your systems.

1. Application Security – Application security protects applications running on-premises and in the cloud, preventing unauthorized access to and use of applications and related data, and preventing flaws or vulnerabilities in application design that hackers can use to infiltrate the network. Modern application development methods
2. Cloud Security – Cloud security secures an organization’s cloud-based services and assets—applications, data, storage, development tools, virtual servers, and cloud infrastructure. In most use cases, cloud security runs on the shared responsibility model. Cloud providers are responsible for securing the services they are providing, and the infrastructure they are delivering, while the customer’s responsibility is protecting their data, code, and other assets they store or run in the cloud.
3. Data Security – Data security is the process of maintaining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of digital information throughout its entire life cycle to protect it from corruption, theft, or unauthorized access.
4. Identity and Access Control – Identity and Access control is a security technique that regulates who or what can view or use resources in a computing environment. There are two types of access control: physical and logical. Physical access control limits access to campuses, buildings, rooms, and physical IT assets. Logical access control limits connections to computer networks, system files, and data.
5. Code Management – Code Management security comprises programming practices, techniques, and tools that ensure your code isn’t susceptible to security vulnerabilities. A hack or leak of source code can cause serious damage to a company on multiple fronts. It can harm the company’s reputation and lead to a loss of customer trust.
6. Network Security – Network security is defined as the process of creating a strategic defensive approach that secures a company’s data and resources across its network. It prevents unauthorized access to network resources and detects and stops cyberattacks and network security breaches.
7. Operations Security – Operations Security (OPSEC) is the process by which we protect critical information whether it is classified or unclassified that can be used against an organization. Things that fall under the OPSEC umbrella include monitoring behaviors and habits on social media sites as well as discouraging employees from sharing login credentials via email or text message.
8. Physical and Environmental Security – Physical and environmental security refers to measures taken to protect systems, buildings, and related supporting infrastructure against threats associated with their physical environment.
9. Mobile Security – Mobile security, often referred to as wireless security, involves protecting both personal and business-related information stored on and transmitted from smartphones, tablets, laptops, wearables, and other portable devices.
10. Third-Party Relationships – Third-Party Relationships security includes security from external entities may include service providers, vendors, supply-side partners, demand-side partners, alliances, consortiums, and investors, and may include both contractual and non-contractual parties.

Get your Free Security Assessments to mitigate your risks.