Cyber Security And Beyond: Threats And Measures Of Countering Them
Introduction
The advancement in technology has come with numerous advantages across various fields. Besides that, technology has made work seem easier to execute and get the required results easily. However, this advancement in technology has also come with challenges that the users of technology have to take care of in order to ensure that they don’t fall victims of cybersecurity issues that have also risen (Amoroso, 2013). The threats on the data loss through cybersecurity and beyond are the major concerns not only for the business persons in their organizations but also for the governments as they seek to protect their confidential documents beyond some individuals.
As such, this is an area that all individuals must pay attention to in order to ensure that they don’t fall victims of the crimes committed through the use of the internet. Cybersecurity is an area of concern because of the detrimental effects that it can cause to an organization or a nation if executed successfully. Therefore, it’s important that possible avenues of causing threats are identified and appropriate measures of countering the threats put in place in order to ensure that there are no detrimental effects to the organization or the nation caused by the security breaches (Amoroso, 2013).
Cyber Security Practices
Cybersecurity has proved to be one of the critical measures that are very useful in ensuring that the security of the organizations is well-taken care. As highlighted earlier this is indeed a delicate area that should be of much concern to all individuals as the technology advancement in the world has meant that every individual has become so vulnerable to attack that he/she can be attacked at any point unexpectedly. This is the similar case for the business operations, emergency response teams by the government, power control networks, financial applications in various agencies both in the private sector and public sector and mobile telecommunication systems. These key areas need to be protected and appropriate measures put in place in order to minimize the threats and risks caused by loss data through security breach (Barrett, 2013).
In this case, the national infrastructure attack is one of the areas that are most often vulnerable to attack. In this case, the attacks may be motivated by different forces. For instance, there is country sponsored warfare in which the enemy country sponsors and spearheads the attack on our premises. A terrorist attack is also an area that should be considered as terrorist groups can get funding and spearhead an attack on the premises. There is also a commercial attack which is motivated by one company being driven to make more profits by attacking the other competitors so as to remain in the market and enjoy the monopoly services. Besides those, there are also financial attacks which are driven by the urge to get financed upon carrying out an attack. Finally, there are the common groups which are the hackers who get the information they seek for in order to use for different malicious purposes (Barrett, 2013).
Therefore, the above mentioned are the possible threats that an organization or a national infrastructure is likely to face. However, there are numerous ways that an attacker can use to access the databases or areas of restriction what matters most is the ability to handle such situations. As such, the following methods shows some of the possible ways that can be employed to ensure the cyber threats are dealt with and avoided.
Deception Technique
This is one of the long-term ways that has been used to nab down the internet predators and culprits who are fond of social engineering vices. The principle of deception works on the basis that the adversary is left on the uncertainty if the discovered problem is real or false which is a set trap to capture him/her during the execution of their malicious activities. This technique is very useful for the case of programs of national infrastructure in order to avoid cases of malicious attack by partners such as the suppliers and the distributors of common commodities in the nation. Therefore, it’s important that the government consider this as one of the tools towards ensuring that they protect their databases (Barrett, 2013). Besides that, this technique presents the adversary with misleading functionality which makes him be easily caught in the act unexpectedly. As such, the national infrastructure can use this technique by application of a layer of cleverly embedded information into the internal and external service providers. In this case, it’s the fake information that’s embedded on the right kind of information so as to lay a trap for the non-expecting intruder of the system. However, for this case, it works on the level of expertise of the intruder. This is in the essence that an expert intruder who can differentiate a true service provider and a false one will easily determine that it’s a trap and thus avoiding proceeding with his/her activities beyond that point.
However, if one is an armature then the results are that he/she will be trapped by the laid trap easily. Therefore, this technique works best as an alarm for both the intruder and the service providers thus ensuring that no one accesses the database without the management team being notified (Buczak, & Guven, 2016). Besides that, this technique can also be used as a direct warning to the attackers and partners who might have malicious ideas. In this case, the intruders are made aware of the protection device put in place as a trap thus making it difficult for them to carry out their threat. For instance, the suppliers who might be planning to insert a Trojan horse in the database might have to change the plans upon knowing that the organization has put in place measures that run throughout the databases attacking and getting rid of the virus. Therefore, this technique can be recommended for various purposes in the organization. Besides that, it can also be employed in various places and organizations in order to prevent the occurrence of such activities in the organization. Most importantly, the national infrastructure can also employ this technique as it has been previously used and proved to function well if well installed (Gupta, Agrawal & Yamaguchi, 2016).
Separation Technique
This is also one of the common techniques that’s mostly used in the organization today. Just like common protection measures of databases and critical information of the organizations today, this also depends heavily on the use of technology. Therefore, technology has really played a massive role in the provision of measures that can fight the malicious attack which unfortunately is also brought about by the same technology advancement. However, in this case, the most important thing is one being updated on the current issues and methods of cybersecurity. Therefore, separation techniques work on the basis or creating barriers which bar some individuals from accessing certain areas. For instance, there is the use of authentication and identity management. In case, one has to be fully identified by the computer or electronic gadget put in place in order to be allowed to access the site of interest. As such, this technique can work for both physical entries or through login to the area of interest. For the case of physical entry, one may be required to carry out a scan on their eyes, fingerprints or even facial recognition.
On the other hand, through the log in the authentication process takes place through the use of a username and the login. if one does not have such credentials then he/she is not allowed to access the premises for the security purpose of the organization (Gupta, Agrawal & Yamaguchi, 2016). Additionally, the separation method can also be used by the use of logical access control methods. In this case, the logical access control provides separation techniques to the intruders. The logical access control can be effected by the use of local area networks (LAN) which provide some protection at a higher proximity but within the network coverage. However, they are weak and vulnerable to easy attack and thus offer access to confidential data if the intruder has an insider who is his/her comrade in crime (Buczak, & Guven, 2016). Besides that, there is also the use of firewalls. These are the common protection method used by most of the organizations today. This is because they have proved to be more effective and can easily interconnect between various computers. The technique was much useful in the early days when the connection was much smaller. However, with the increase in the number of connections today, it still remains useful but its guarantee to a maximum protection of the data loss and security breach has been reduced.
Diversity Technique
This is the technique that identifies and uses technology that is substantively different and unique in the area of operation. The differences, in this case, can be in terms of programming language, the physical location, the source of technology and the computing platform. In this case, the essence of introducing these differences is that to create an area of uncertainty for the attack not to easily identify an area of attack. Besides that, it also opens ways for countering the attack in case it actually takes place. This is because, the attack is only carried in one or two sections thus leaving the other sections very secure which the organization can use to easily trap the intruder (Barrett, 2013). Therefore, in this case, the most appropriate way in which the national infrastructure can apply this technique is by the use well-defined software cycle methodologies, timely processes for patching methodologies and segregation of duty control in system administration.
As such, with segregation of duties in an organization, it becomes very easy to ensure that the organization is well secured. This is because for one to breach such a tight security system one has to ensure that he breaches various points across the organization in order to access his point of interest (Buczak, & Guven, 2016). However, one of the challenges that are affecting this technique is the frequent auditing processes taking place in the organizations today. The frequent audits come with recommendations that they demand to be initiated into the organizations. Some of these recommendations do not ensure that the premises are well secured. Therefore, if implemented they are likely to make the organization more vulnerable than they were initiated before the audits took place. As such, it’s important that audits are done in order to determine the area of weaknesses but the recommendations made should not be the onset of problems in terms of a security breach. In this regard, the organization should consider such factors before making the appropriate decisions concerning the security of the organization (Gupta, Agrawal & Yamaguchi, 2016).
Conclusion
Cybersecurity is a very critical area today because of the frequent security breaches that have taken place across the world. The effects of these security breaches have also been so detrimental that one has to invest in the cybersecurity heavily in order to ensure that the threats posed by the perpetrators of cyber-crimes do not affect the organizations. This is also a similar case to the nations as if a country is attacked then the magnitude of the effect must be very high. Therefore, it's important that organizations and nations put in place the above measures in order to ensure that their important data does not get into wrong hands through the use of modern technology.
