Why is Cyber Security Important?

We are now living in a digital era, where most of the stuff is online, for an individual, as well as big organizations. This brings a lot of convenience, but along with it, it also brings possibilities of different threats, that may harm our data or even our systems. With more and more people and organizations coming on the internet and adapting digital transformations, the risk of cyber crimes is also increasing rapidly, so there’s a need to mitigate this, and so cybersecurity plays a very important role.

Why is Cyber Security Important?

So, understanding this, in this article, we are going to have a look at why Cybersecurity is important. We will try to discuss some different points, which would provide more insights into cybersecurity and its importance.

What is Cyber Security

For someone who is not at all familiar with what is Cyber Security, for them, let’s discuss in short about what is Cyber Security, but if you think you already know about this, you can happily skip this part, but I would suggest not skipping it, and going through it.

So, imagine that you have valuable things like Money, Gold, Expensive cars, and other things in your house, which are pretty much expensive, and important too. You would need to keep it safe from bad actors (like burglars), and for that, you would simply lock your house, to keep it safe from burglars.

Similarly, data and overall IT Infrastructure is very important for individuals and organizations, and to keep it safe, Cybersecurity plays an important role, setting up tools and practices to protect your computers, mobile phones, and overall infrastructure, so that you are safe from the hackers or bad actors, who might steal your data, or exploit your systems and resources for bad causes.

So, cyber security can be considered as a set of tools and practices, for protecting computers, networks, infrastructure, and data from any unauthorized access.

Importance of Cyber Security

By now, you might be already familiar with what is Cyber Security, and I hope that you agree with the fact, that the data and our systems need to be protected against unauthorized access by bad actors. No one would want their systems or data to be exploited for bad cause, and that’s a reason why things like privacy and cyber security are given a lot of importance.

The thing is that whether we are individuals or a big firm, we are involved in the use of computer systems on a daily, or regular basis, and rising dependency on the systems, can lead to rising possibilities of cyber threats to any level, which wasn’t the thing before.

So, Cybersecurity is becoming increasingly important with this, and there are several means through which, we can set up security for our systems and our data. You may think of cyber security as a shield in this digital world.

Here is why Cyber Security is important

• It protects Personal Data
  With Cyber Security in action, you are secured while you are on the internet, and your sensitive information is kept safe, like your credentials, banking details, and other personal information is kept safe from hackers, who might try to steal your data.
• Prevents the installation of any virus in the system
  Sometimes, we might end up downloading and installing viruses in our system, causing our system to act slow, or crash, or not work as expected. But with Cyber security, such installations can be prevented and guarded, keeping your system safe from the potential viruses.
• It protects your Business and Organizations
  Maybe as an individual, cyber security may not feel important, but when it comes to businesses or organizations, it should be a priority! It helps them keep their, and the customer information safe, and run the systems smoothly. A single data breach in organizations and businesses does mean huge financial losses and loss of reputation.
• Protection against Cyber Attacks
  Sometimes, cyber-attacks are not identifiable for us, and this is where some ransomware, malware, or worms enter into our systems. These attacks can have different levels of threats, like stealing your data, exploiting your system, or even locking you out of your own devices, until you pay a ransom. So, cybersecurity is important in preventing those things from entering your system.
• Adoption of evolving threats
  As cyber security solutions manage to mitigate the existing threats from entering our systems, the bad actors continuously think about new ways to enter our systems anyway. But the cyber security systems are also powerful, and here as well, continuous work is done, to tackle new and complicated cyber security issues.
• With Cyber Security, comes trust
  When companies do take cyber security more seriously, they can build trust with the customers. Imagine some company had experienced a data breach, which cost millions of dollars loss to the victims, and the company, so you would think ten times before even giving your email address to the company.

So, there is much more to say about this, but I hope the above-mentioned points are enough to draw the importance of cyber security in today’s world. Well, you might not even notice but scams and threats are happening all day and night. It has become very necessary to ensure safeguards over our data and systems.

Why Cyber Crimes are increasing?

Well, that’s a valid question… why these cyber crimes are increasing? Well, over half the population in this world has access to the internet. I think the answer lies somewhere in the number, and there can be several interconnected reasons, to why cyber crimes are increasing, but let’s try to highlight a few of them –

• Financial Motivation(Though it’s for a bad cause)
  Things like financial fraud, ransomware attacks, and data theft can provide more money opportunities for fraudsters.
• Increased connectivity
  Nowadays, more and more people are coming on the internet, and this creates new opportunities for hackers and fraudsters, and also newer systems, like IoT devices, and interconnected systems may provide new entry points for hackers to get into the network.
• Lack of cyber security awareness
  Many people who are using the internet, are not aware of cyber crimes, and the importance of cyber security, and this increases the opportunities for bad actors. Many times, people use weak passwords, don’t update the software, and therefore increase their vulnerability to the devices.
• Personal Benefits
  Sometimes, behind cyber crimes, is the personal benefit of an individual, an organization, or a country. In that case, cyber attacks might be performed for any cause, from keeping out of systems to stealing confidential data.
• Data Theft
  Sometimes, the attacks are done for data. Just like some physical thefts are done for money, digital thefts may be done to access the data for any bad and undefined causes.

Well, there are many more reasons why cyber crimes are rising, but I think the above reasons are enough for you to be aware of a few points so that you can also take safety measures to keep yourself safe from these attacks.

How can we prevent Cyber Attacks?

Now when you have understood about the cyber attacks and the importance of cyber security, you might want to know about the things you can do to prevent cyber attacks. Well, when we are on the internet, we must act responsibly, since one wrong click or one redirection may be enough to help them enter your system.

Always the hackers and bad actors are in search of entry points in the network, or the device. But hopefully, some safety measures can contribute to preventing cyber attacks to a great extent.

• Don’t connect to any unknown or especially public Wi-Fi.
  Many people think that getting free Wi-Fi is a jackpot, but it comes at a cost! When you are connected to a public Wi-Fi, it makes it easy for the hackers to put malware into your devices, and perform scams. So, try not to connect to some public Wi-Fi, without ensuring the safety, of the network.
• Use Strong passwords
  If you have a hard time remembering passwords, and so you are keeping some easy-to-remember passwords, you are doing a big wrong thing. Putting such a password which is easy to remember (or let’s say guess) for you, can be the same for someone else. Let’s say that you have the password as your name followed by an @ symbol, following 123, so this makes a super easy password, allowing anyone to guess it for not too long iterations. So, use strong passwords, and use trusted password managers if you don’t remember the passwords.
• Use multi-factor authentication
  Many services provide 2-factor authentication, which can be applied to make your account safer than before. This usually requires a passkey or password from some kind of authenticator app, which enables greater and improved protection.
• Use trusted antivirus software
  You can choose to use antivirus software so that you can have a companion that helps you identify the threats that weren’t identifiable by you.

What are some types of Cyber Threats?

Now that we are quite familiar with what is cyber security and its importance, let’s quickly discuss some different cyber threats, that usually take place. We won’t get into greater details about those, but this is to make you aware of some usually occurring threats.

Conclusion

In this article, we could understand what is cyber security, along with some flashlights on the importance of cyber security. In this digital age, when many of us have a deep presence online, we must make sure we, our data, and our systems are safe on the internet. Cyber security is the key to staying safe while you are doing stuff online, as an individual, or an organization.

We could dive into some possible types of threats that you may see frequently happening. I hope I could help you through the information above and could make you aware of the cyber threats, and the importance of cyber security, so that you can start taking things seriously when you are online. Be aware before you click an unknown link, or reply to some unknown email, or while putting your details on some websites.

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