The internet is continually evolving, which unfortunately means vulnerabilities increase; people trying to take advantage of these systems and exploit weaknesses are a continuous problem. The good news is that as vulnerabilities increase, so do the advances in ways to protect the system. When it comes to staying safe with technology, you basically have two options--computer security and cybersecurity. While both types of security are related, they are also distinctly different. In order to ensure your information is safe, you need to understand the basic differences between computer security and cyber security in order to choose the right combination to meet your needs.
What is Computer Security?
Computer security is one or more techniques used to protect the data that is stored on a single computer. This type of protection helps to ensure the information or data stored on your computer cannot be read, accessed or compromised by other individuals without the appropriate authorization. There are basically two primary types of computer security-software and hardware security.
- Software security typically consists of server protection and security, data security through safe computer practices and theft prevention, system security against viruses and other malicious software programs. Basically, software security is the various ways in which attacks can be launched on software and data streams, without the physical interaction of different hardware or devices.
- Hardware security generally consists of physical devices, such as server mainframes, computers and portable or external memory and storage devices.
What is Cyber Security?
Unlike computer security that is basically concerned with protecting an individual computer, cyber security is more concerned with threats from outside of the computer. Cyber security involves various processes and technologies to protect network programs, data and computers from unintended or unauthorized access. A cyber-attack can originate from anywhere in the world and may invade the networks of individuals, government, businesses and financial institutions. Computer security and cyber security somewhat overlap, but basically computer security focuses on the single computer/user, while cyber security focuses on all of the threats and how the individual networks are connected to them. Cyber security is often divided into four tasks:
- Network protection-those who are in charge of cyber protection are continuously developing software to protect against attempts to get into the network.
- Education & up-to-date information-this involves staying informed on how hackers and attackers are improving their efforts. It is essential that the end user (those using the networks) be knowledgeable about the dangers of cyber-attacks in order to prevent or destroy them.
- Intelligence & information security-identifying the sources of any outside attacks and protecting the networks against them and since attackers are continuously upgrading their technologies and methods; cyber security is a never-ending problem.
- Application security-applications are the programs that process the data, so it is essential that applications be monitored and protected at all times to avoid unintended breaches from with the network.
Along with the different types of internet security, there are also different ways in which computer security systems can be provided-depending on the needs of the individual needs of the business or private user. For example, large corporations typically have internal teams and security experts that are employed full time to deal with cyber security and threats to data for the company, while other computer security services may be offered through consultations from a company that is devoted solely to computer and network security.
Contact a company like CYBERGUARD360 to learn more.
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