What is Cyber Security? Definition, Best Practices & More

Definition of 'Cyber Security'

Definition: Cyber security or information technology security are the techniques of protecting computers, networks, programs and data from unauthorized access or attacks that are aimed for exploitation.

Description: Major areas covered in cyber security are:

1) Application Security


2) Information Security

3) Disaster recovery

4) Network Security


Application security encompasses measures or counter-measures that are taken during the development life-cycle to protect applications from threats that can come through flaws in the application design, development, deployment, upgrade or maintenance. Some basic techniques used for application security are: a) Input parameter validation, b)User/Role Authentication & Authorization, c) Session management, parameter manipulation & exception management, and d) Auditing and logging.

Information security protects information from unauthorized access to avoid identity theft and to protect privacy. Major techniques used to cover this are: a) Identification, authentication & authorization of user, b) Cryptography.

Disaster recovery planning is a process that includes performing risk assessment, establishing priorities, developing recovery strategies in case of a disaster. Any business should have a concrete plan for disaster recovery to resume normal business operations as quickly as possible after a disaster.

Network security includes activities to protect the usability, reliability, integrity and safety of the network. Effective network security targets a variety of threats and stops them from entering or spreading on the network. Network security components include

: a) Anti-virus and anti-spyware,

  b)Firewall, to block unauthorized access to your network,

  c)Intrusion prevention systems (IPS), to identify fast-spreading threats, such as zero-day         or zero-hour attacks, and

 d) Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), to provide secure remote access.