When it comes to our health, prevention is better than cure. But when it comes to the terms of cyber security, prevention is always the primary cure. Just last year, people were exposed to how dangerous and real cybercrime is. Hitting some of the businesses like health cares, and most visibly, local governments. Whose outdated security systems had millions of their users information leaks at the mercy of those who hacked them, proving that the need for cyber security is at an all-time high.
So what is cyber security and why is it important?
As the name implies, cyber security is your online protection. In the real world, guards take measures to prevent crime from happening. In the digital world, cyber security does the same.
However, in the real world, it’s easy to discern what crime is. In the digital world, it is not.
3 Cyber security goals
Cyber threats are at times indiscernible without a good grasp of the 3 cyber security goals, which are:
- Secrecy or confidentiality. People reading or accessing sensitive information should remain the only ones doing so. Hackers who reveal personal information such as credit card numbers is an example of an attack on secrecy.
- Integrity. Not everybody can use and modify systems or data, only those with the right authority. Hackers who learn your password and send emails masquerading as you are an integrity attack.
- Availability. It should always be accessible to authorized people. Hackers preventing developers from doing their job in order to affect a business negatively is an attack on availability.
In the real world, think of it as safeguarding your own home. Do you use locks? Monitor it with closed-circuit television or CCTV? Or maybe even use guard dogs? In the digital world, we call this is two-factor authentication.
3 types of authentication
There are 3 types of authentication to choose from: something you know (such as a password or a pin code), something you have (such as a smart card), and something you are (biometric methods).
Given this information, I’m sure a few security measures come to mind. This can be as simple as having a username/password login, or as high tech as a biometric eye scan. However, it is important to know that these authentications can still be vulnerable to hacking on their own. This is why multi-factor authentication should be considered to strengthen online security.
2019 has shown us exactly how dangerous cybercrimes are, which is why we need cyber security more than ever. You may think that setting up security measures is tiring and simply too much work, and we’d normally say you’re right. But with Twizo-Authenticate it doesn’t have to be as complex as you think.
Twizo-Authenticate offers all 3 types mentioned above and even offers multi-factor authentication which exponentially increases your level of security; its easy, reliable, and secure.
As the saying goes, “better safe than sorry.”
