Cybersecurity, Common Key Security Terminologies and Key Roles and Responsibilities

You've been informed that a lockdown is imminent due to a pandemic attack. You get ready by gathering the supplies and necessities you'll need for survival. You check your security. A first aid kit, tools, food, and necessities are put together. You are ready. You are forced to remain at home when the lockdown occurs. Unluckily, one of your family members has been infected with the widespread disease. You will utilize your first aid supplies to reduce any risks. use the prescribed medication to reduce the infection and seek online medical advice from your doctor for prescriptions. You check to see if the prescribed medication is in your first aid kit. If so, use it; otherwise, check the options that are available to get them.

Dealing with a security incident is the same. Organizations must equip themselves with the tools necessary to quickly respond to threats from the outside or from within in order to be prepared for the lockdown. The goal is to reduce risk and potential harm.

As a security analyst, you'll work to defend your company against various risks and external threats so that it can continue to serve the people it serves. Additionally, if a threat is successful, you and your team will offer a fix to fix the problem.

Let's start defining Cybersecurity: By securing networks, devices, users, and data from unauthorized access or criminal exploitation, cybersecurity, also known as security, is the practice of guaranteeing the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of information. In other words, Cybersecurity, is the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information by protecting networks, devices, people, and data from unauthorized access or criminal exploitation.

For instance, making it difficult for threat actors to compromise passwords by requiring complex passwords for access to websites and services improves confidentiality. Anyone who poses a security risk is considered as a threat actor.

Key Cybersecurity Terminologies:

There are numerous terms and ideas that security professionals need to be familiar with. Knowing them will enable you to recognize threats that could harm both individuals and organizations. Monitoring networks for breaches is the main focus of a security analyst or cybersecurity analyst. In order to stay vigilant and informed about potential threats, they also assist in developing security strategies for an organization and researching information technology (IT) security trends. An analyst also works to stop incidents from happening. Analysts must become knowledgeable in the following fundamental ideas in order to perform these kinds of tasks successfully. 

Compliance: Organizations can prevent penalties and security breaches by complying with both internal policies and external regulations.

Security frameworks: are standards that architects use when creating designs to lessen risks and threats to data and privacy.

Security controls: are measures put in place to lessen certain security risks. To create a strong security posture, they are used in conjunction with security frameworks.

Security posture: An organization's security posture refers to its capacity to control how it defends important assets and data and responds to change. Less risk exists for the organization when there is a strong security posture.

Threat Actor or Malicious attacker: Any individual or organization that poses a security risk is referred to as a threat actor or an evil attacker. Computers, applications, networks, and data may all be subject to this risk.

Internal threat: A current or former employee, an outside vendor, or a reliable partner who presents a security risk can all be considered internal threats. An internal threat can sometimes be unintentional. An employee who unintentionally clicks on a malicious email link, for instance, would be regarded as an accidental threat. In other instances, the internal threat actor knowingly partakes in risky actions like unauthorized data access.

Network security: is the practice of preventing unauthorized access to a network infrastructure within a company. The devices, services, systems, and data that are kept on a network within an organization are included in this.

Cloud Security: The process of making sure that cloud-based assets are correctly configured or set up and that only authorized users have access to them is known as cloud security. The cloud is a network of servers or computers that can be accessed online and are located in far-off physical locations known as data centers. A developing area of cybersecurity called "cloud security" is dedicated to safeguarding cloud-based infrastructure, applications, and data.

Programming: Create a specific set of instructions for a computer to follow using the programming process. These jobs may involve:

• Repetitive tasks can be automated, such as searching a list of malicious domains.
• Monitoring web traffic 
• The art of signaling suspicious behaviors 

Understanding these terms will enable you to recognize typical threats, risks, and vulnerabilities. Visit the glossary at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST Glossary) to learn more about various cybersecurity terms. Alternatively, you can use your browser to look for trustworthy cybersecurity glossaries from academic or governmental organizations. There are dictionaries in many different languages. 

Key Roles and Responsibilities:

Security Specialists - Security specialists are in charge of maintaining the safety of their organizations. They examine the connections and systems for any security flaws. The rise of the cloud trend has given this position a boost because a security expert is needed to regularly evaluate the cloud systems.

Incident Responder - Individuals who detect threats and respond to them are known as incident responders. These people assist the company and its staff in being proactive and taking appropriate action in the event of a security breach.

Security Administrator - The most crucial employees are security administrators. Their duties encompass a variety of responsibilities. In addition to establishing appropriate security guidelines for data flow, they are in charge of setting up firewalls and malware blockers.

Vulnerability Assessor - Individuals who conduct numerous tests on the systems are known as vulnerability assessors or vulnerable assessment analysts. Finding the critical security system flaws is their primary objective, and they also give the highest priority to issues that have the greatest impact on the organization.

Cryptographer -Cryptographers are the individuals who encrypt and decrypt data using cryptography techniques in order to keep it hidden from unrelated parties. They are more in demand and extremely important.

Security Manager- Security managers are in charge of the team as a whole. They make crucial decisions and coordinate the efforts of the entire team.

Security architects- Security architects are those who create the security structure, as the name implies. Additionally, they perform security checks and respond to dangers.

Security Analysts- Security analysts examine systems and close any gaps they find. They frequently collaborate with the other developers and IT specialists on the team.

Security Auditor- Security auditors are charged with being the first to discover a systemic flaw before anyone else. They examine the effectiveness of the firewalls and other security measures that are currently in place.

Forensic experts- are those who track down hacks and security breaches. They look into any online criminal activity, including cyberattacks. They attempt to recover any corrupted or encrypted evidence-related data.

Penetration testers- People who are permitted to hack the system and look for a way in are known as penetration testers. They behave as hackers trying to attack the security system.  

Security Consultants - Security consultants are those who evaluate the systems and point out flaws as well as new improvements. To develop a security strategy, these individuals typically work independently.

Security engineers - patch, maintain, and remove components from the system. They are in charge of changing the system and do all of the system's direct work.

Finally, Cyber security is a vast world which has multiple job titles depending on the requirement. Even though the job responsibilities of most roles overlap, each one has its importance.