Cybersecurity is one of the most popular terms in the digital world. How to define it? Basically, cybersecurity is the practice of protecting computer systems, networks and programs from cyberattacks aimed at accessing, altering, or deleting sensitive information. The final goal of cyberattacks may be stealing money or interrupting business processes.
Nowadays, it’s quite challenging to implement effective cybersecurity measures since attacks are becoming more and more innovative. That’s why different types of cybersecurity exist nowadays, such as cloud, network, application, IoT and critical infrastructure security.
Why is it important to teach cybernetics?
In today’s era of the Internet, it’s essential to teach cybernetics. You can see that the world is moving at the speed of light towards a more technologised state, which is called the digital revolution. Artificial intelligence goes to scale affecting people’s lives in a dramatic way.
If we use only the skills we have today in the future, we will come up short. Imagine lawyers who are working on the regulations of technologies without understanding them or coding specialists who are creating algorithms for unknown machines. In both cases, we can get undesirable results. That’s why we all need a new way of thinking to tackle upcoming challenges of digitization.
Students that want to get a ticket to the future must be really good at technology. Using modern software and devices requires them to have some knowledge. They face it even at school when completing their homework. And those who know how to apply modern tools are much more successful than the rest. For example, if you can use Edu Birdie, you don’t need to spend much time on assignment writing because professional writers can do it for you. At this website, you can place an order for your home task in almost any discipline and get it done due to your deadline date. As you see, tech awareness can benefit you a lot.
Why is cybersecurity awareness vital?
They say that the Internet is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. The world wide web has made information widely available to the public at all times, which carries some risks. Unfortunately, with the development of the Internet, new types of crime emerged. Cyber crimes cause huge damage to people.
Cyberattacks are extremely expensive. It was predicted that by 2025 cyber crimes will cost the world $10.5 trillion a year. That’s incredible, isn’t it? Apart from the financial losses, the lack of cybersecurity may lead to reputation damage. For example, business owners may have some information revealed that can potentially ruin their brand image.
Also, everybody must be aware of cybersecurity as we all tend to keep our private information online. And that’s understandable! Doing that is highly comfortable. However, the number of data breaches and information leaks is alarming. Cyberattacks make our sensitive online data vulnerable, so we need to know how to protect it in order to avoid problems.
Types of cybersecurity attacks
There is a big variety of cybersecurity threats you may face when using the Internet. Let’s discuss a few main types below.
Phishing
Phishing is a very easy technique commonly used today. It’s a practice of sending fraudulent emails that look like they were sent from reputable sources. The aim of this attack is to steal some sensitive data. For example, it can be bank account information or credit card numbers. How to protect yourself from phishing? The only way is to educate yourself on this problem.
Ransomware
Ransomware is another common type of cyberattack. Basically, it’s a kind of malicious software designed to block access to certain files or computer systems. Ransomware requires victims to pay money for unblocking those files or systems. But unfortunately, even paying money doesn’t guarantee that everything will be recovered.
Malware
The definition of malware is very simple: it’s a type of software created to gain unauthorized access. Malware damages a computer, making it unable to function.
Social engineering
With a social engineering tactic, computer users are tricked to reveal sensitive information. Cyber criminals can get access to your confidential data or make a payment from your credit card. Social engineering is often combined with any of the other techniques listed above, so victims are more likely to click on phishing links or download malware.
Final thoughts
With the rapid development of technology, cybersecurity awareness programs should be mandatory in colleges so that everyone can learn how to stay safe online. Everybody must know what cyber threats exist nowadays and how to avoid them. Otherwise, personal security is put at stake.
Author’s BIO
Angela Boggs is a cybersecurity specialist and IT teacher. She works at a high school, helping teenagers discover the tech world. Angela believes that today’s digital era requires everybody to be aware of cybersecurity, so she spreads information on this topic through different channels, including live lectures and web articles.
