Discovering Cybersecurity Terminologies

Being a cybersecurity professional, it's crucial to have a solid grasp of fundamental cybersecurity terminology. While this article won't encompass the entirety of cybersecurity terms, it will focus on the commonly used ones. Let's dive in.

1. Asset: In the world of cybersecurity, an asset refers to anything valuable to a person or a company. Assets include network systems that can be interacted with, potentially exposing weak points. This could give hackers a chance to go from standard-user access to administrator-/root-level access or even remote access to the network. It's important to note that assets aren't only technical systems; they can also be people, physical access controls, and data stored on the networks we're trying to protect. Assets can be broken down into three categories:

   a. Tangible: These are physical items such as networking devices, computing systems and appliances.

   b. Intangible: These are non-physical things such as intellectual property, business plans, data and records.

   c. People: These are employees who drive the business or organization. Humans are one of the most vulnerable assets in the field of cybersecurity. Furthermore, safeguarding customer data from theft by threat actors is crucial for organizations.

2. Threat: In the world of cybersecurity, a threat is something that could harm a system, network, or person. Whether a cybersecurity expert is working on defence or offence, recognizing threats is crucial. Professionals must anticipate potential problems and swiftly discover security vulnerabilities in systems, networks, and applications. This proactive approach helps them counteract potential threats and safeguard assets.

3. Vulnerability: A vulnerability is a weakness or flaw in technical, physical, or human systems that hackers can exploit to gain unauthorized access or control over network systems. Organizations commonly face vulnerabilities like human error (a significant global concern), misconfigured devices, weak user credentials, poor programming practices, outdated software on host systems, default system settings, and more. Identifying and addressing these vulnerabilities is vital to maintaining security.

4. Exploit: An exploit is the element, tool, or code utilized to leverage a vulnerability within a system.

5. Risk: Risk is the possible effect that a vulnerability, threat, or asset could have on an organization when measured against all other vulnerabilities, threats, and assets. Assessing risk aids in gauging the chance of a particular problem leading to a data breach that could harm an organization's finances, reputation, or regulatory compliance. Minimizing risk is vital for numerous organizations.

6. Zero-day: A zero-day attack is an exploit that is unknown to the world, including the vendor of the product, which means it is unpatched by the vendor. These attacks are commonly used in nation-state attacks, as well as by large criminal organizations. Today, many organizations have established a bug bounty program, which allows interested persons who discover a vulnerability within a system of a vendor to report it.