We are now living in a digital age where computers have become an essential part of our lives. They are used by people of all age group from a kid to adults to perform various tasks. As a consequence securing our system is essential and failure to do so could result in data breach.
Hackers wait in wings for you to fumble, so they can exploit the vulnerability detected for their financial gain. Hence, it is important to take security measures and safeguard businesses from being a target. But before taking any security measures, it is essential to know what are different types of security and how they work.
Often, when we talk about securing a network, data or organization, terms like Information Security and Cybersecurity are used. But do you know what are they and how they differ? Most of us don’t know about them and use these terms interchangeably, assuming they are same. But there is a slight difference between them. Let’s look at these terms and understand them: Cybersecurity Vs Information Security.
Let’s begin with Data Security.
Data Security as the name suggests is all about securing the data. But by data we don’t mean information, because every data cannot be information.
Data can be called information only when it is used in a situation that has a meaning. For example, “01011990” is data, but when it is used as date of birth of an individual, it becomes information. That is, information is data with meaning.
In a nutshell we can say Information security is about securing confidential and true information. Information Security guarantees that the data both physical and digital will be protected from unauthorized access, use, trouble, recording or damage. Security measures should start from securing information as it is foundation of data security.
On the contrary Cybersecurity is about securing valuables marked vulnerable in respect with hardware and software. It guarantees security of computer, data, organizational network from unauthorized access, digital outbreak, damage by executing various security techniques.
In short: Cybersecurity is about securing anything in cyber realm, while information security is about securing the information regardless of the domain.
Also Read: Cyber Threat: Latest & Deadliest Computer Virus
Relation Between Cybersecurity and Information Security
Individuals don’t use terms interchangeably unless they see a strong link between them. The same thing is happening with Cybersecurity and Information Security.
They are used as synonym because both terms consider value and people are unable to differentiate between data and information.
In Information Security, the focus is in safeguarding company’s data from any kind unauthorized, whereas, in Cybersecurity, the data is to be protected from illegitimate digital access.
Both practices are used to keep data secure, they need to find the critical data and secure it from illegal access.
What Information Security and Cybersecurity Keeps Us Safe From?
While developing Information Security policies triad of three components namely: confidentiality, integrity and availability (CIA) are kept in mind.
- Confidentiality: Guarantees that information will be out of reach by unauthorized people. For this they use encryption techniques in various forms.
- Integrity: Guards information and organizational network from being altered by unauthorized people; make sure that the data is correct and reliable
- Availability: Gives access to only authorized people when required; ensures that both software and hardware are kept properly and updated.
Also Read: HTTPS: More Secure More Reliable Way to Surf Over Internet
Social Engineering
Before targeting an organization, attackers do extensive research of both the organization and employees. They very well know it’s easy to exploit human vulnerabilities and perform a cyber-attack via social engineering. The common social engineering attacks include: Phishing, Pretexting, Baiting and Quid pro quo.
We hope that you find the article informative and won’t use the terms interchangeably from now on. They may look alike but the slight difference is what makes them stand apart. Both have their own place, you can replace one with another. Information Security focuses on securing meaningful data whereas cybersecurity is focused on securing hardware and software by identifying the vulnerabilities. You may discuss about them in same breath but only when you know what they stand for and how to use them when needed.
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