Cyber Security Services: What They Are & Why We Need Them

“Cyber Security” is a term being used a lot these days, but what exactly does it mean, and why is it important? In this article, we will cover these questions and understand why cyber threats are a significant concern for data holders, whether they are individuals or business organizations.

Cyber security entails the safeguarding of computer networks and systems so that the services they provide aren’t disrupted or the software, hardware or data that they contain doesn’t get damaged or stolen. Cyber Security Threats that endanger such property include malicious acts that try to steal or sabotage information, or interfere with normal interaction in digital life, such as PC viruses, and DoS (Denial of Service) onslaughts.

These days, the term “cyber threat” is mainly applied in matters concerning information security. This visualization of the digital phenomenon as a physical one is done to simplify understanding of the subject.

A “cyber-attack”, therefore, is an attack made on a digital platform or the information it contains through cyberspace, a virtual space that doesn’t exist in the physical realm but helps people understand intentionally harmful weaponry in the digital world.

Cyberspace may not be real, but the attacker’s aim and possible effects very much are, and while numerous cyber-attacks are scarcely inconveniences, some can be potentially adverse, even seriously threatening to human lives.

The questions here are whether we should be concerned about cyber-attacks, and how helpful cyber security services are in this case. The answer to the first question is a resounding Yes, mainly because data breaches have both multiplied and intensified in scale and damage. In fact, some of the world’s major brands like Ebay, Target, and Marriott have been affected by intrusions on a large scale.

Such assaults have resulted in huge losses, with businesses losing large sums of money in stock valuation along with their hard-earned reputation and users. If big corporations with practically inexhaustible resources can incur such damage, imagine the losses that smaller organizations with less assets would end up going through.

So, what led to such a rise in large data breaches? Experts realized that in most of the cases, organizations had left their door wide open, easing the process of stealing sensitive data for criminals, thanks to the absence of proper cyber security. Target’s incident in 2013 comes to mind, which made headlines when hackers used an HVAC vendor to gain access to the business’ POS data and made away with over forty million debit and credit card numbers.

Moreover, it occurred bit by bit over the course of many weeks, and around seventy million customers had their personal information stolen by the time the breach was detected, including full names, numbers, email ids, and addresses, resulting in over $163 million in losses.

Even though businesses aren’t likely to completely eliminate risk, because attackers continue to uncover different methods of breaking in, security analysts can take care of a majority of data breaches to prevent such instances from occurring, with the help of nonstop security record surveillance and threat blocking.

Experts suggest that the ideal approach would be to imagine a breach is about to take place at any point in the near future, and to be prepared to prevent it from taking place — by implementing a security method or system.

Continuing with the Target example, the 2013 attack could have been easily prevented with cyber security services that would install a system to send an alert instantaneously. This way, the authorities could be alerted the second the intruding HVAC system or an unauthorized system connected to their internal system, and thwarted the attack immediately.

Additionally, a decent network security monitoring system instantaneously records log information, fetching the data needed for regulatory compliance under standards and regulations as mandated by various agencies like PCI, HIPAA, GDPR, GLBA, and FERPA.

Ultimately, such high profile attacks provide an excellent opportunity to be prepared where others couldn’t be, by placing a diligent cyber security network monitoring system. This way, businesses can be prepared irrespective of the continuously evolving ways using which hackers try to breach their private data.