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cybersecurity is the body of technologies, processes and practices designed to protect networks, computers, programs and data from attack, damage or unauthorized access. In a computing context, security includes both cybersecurity and physical security.Ensuring cybersecurity requires coordinated efforts throughout an information system. Elements of cybersecurity include:Application securityInformation securityNetwork securityDisaster recovery / business continuity planningOperational securityEnd-user educationTo deal with the current environment, advisory organizations are promoting a more proactive and adaptive approach. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), for example, recently issued updated guidelines in its risk assessment framework that recommended a shift toward continuous monitoring and real-time assessments.According to Forbes, the global cybersecurity market reached $75 billion for 2015 and is expected to hit $170 billion in 2020.Application securityApplication security is the use of software, hardware, and procedural methods to protect applications from external threats.Once an afterthought in software design, security is becoming an increasingly important concern during development as applications become more frequently accessible over networks and are, as a result, vulnerable to a wide variety of threats. Security measures built into applications and a sound application security routine minimize the likelihood that unauthorized code will be able to manipulate applications to access, steal, modify, or delete sensitive data.Actions taken to ensure application security are sometimes called countermeasures. The most basic software countermeasure is an application firewall that limits the execution of files or the handling of data by specific installed programs. The most common hardware countermeasure is a router that can prevent the IP address of an individual computer from being directly visible on the Internet. Other countermeasures include conventional firewalls, encryption/decryption programs, anti-virus programs, spyware detection/removal programs and biometric authentication systems.Application security can be enhanced by rigorously defining enterprise assets, identifying what each application does (or will do) with respect to these assets, creating a security profile for each application, identifying and prioritizing potential threats and documenting adverse events and the actions taken in each case. This process is known as threat modeling. In this context, a threat is any potential or actual adverse event that can compromise the assets of an enterprise, including both malicious events, such as a denial-of-service (DoS) attack, and unplanned events, such as the failure of a storage device.information security (infosec)Information security (infosec) is a set of strategies for managing the processes, tools and policies necessary to prevent, detect, document and counter threats to digital and non-digital information. Infosec responsibilities include establishing a set of business processes that will protect information assets regardless of how the information is formatted or whether it is in transit, is being processed or is at rest in storage.Infosec programs are built around the core objectives of the CIA triad: maintaining the confidentiality, integrity and availability of IT systems and business data. These objectives ensure that sensitive information is only disclosed to authorized parties (confidentiality), prevent unauthorized modification of data(integrity) and guarantee the data can be accessed by authorized parties when requested (availability).Many large enterprises employ a dedicated security group to implement and maintain the organization's infosec program. Typically, this group is led by a chief information security officer. The security group is generally responsible for conducting risk management, a process through which vulnerabilities and threats to information assets are continuously assessed, and the appropriate protective controls are decided on and applied. The value of an organization lies within its information -- its security is critical for business operations, as well as retaining credibility and earning the trust of clients.Threats to sensitive and private information come in many different forms, such as malware and phishing attacks, identity theft and ransomware. To deter attackers and mitigate vulnerabilities at various points, multiple security controls are implemented and coordinated as part of a layered defense in depth strategy. This should minimize the impact of an attack. To be prepared for a security breach, security groups should have an incident response plan (IRP) in place. This should allow them to contain and limit the damage, remove the cause and apply updated defense controls.business continuity plan (BCP)A business continuity plan (BCP) is a document that consists of the critical information an organization needs to continue operating during an unplanned event.The BCP should state the essential functions of the business, identify which systems and processes must be sustained, and detail how to maintain them. It should take into account any possible business disruption.With risks ranging from cyber attacks to natural disasters to human error, it is vital for an organization to have a business continuity plan to preserve its health and reputation. A proper BCP decreases the chance of a costly outage.While IT administrators often create the plan, the participation of executive staff can aid the process, adding knowledge of the company, providing oversight and helping to ensure the BCP is regularly updated.What a business continuity plan needsAccording to business continuity consultant Paul Kirvan, a BCP should contain the following items:Initial data, including important contact information, located at the beginning of the planRevision management process that describes change management proceduresPurpose and scopeHow to use the plan, including guidelines as to when the plan will be initiatedPolicy informationEmergency response and managementStep-by-step proceduresChecklists and flow diagramsSchedule for reviewing, testing and updating the planIn the book Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Planning for IT Professionals, Susan Snedaker recommends asking the following questions:How would the department function if desktops, laptops, servers, email and internet access were unavailable?What single points of failure exist? What risk controls or risk management systems are currently in place?What are the critical outsourced relationships and dependencies?During a disruption, what workarounds are there for key business processes?What is the minimum number of staff needed and what functions would they need to carry out?What are the key skills, knowledge or expertise needed to recover?What critical security or operational controls are needed if systems are down?Business continuity planning stepsThe business continuity planning process contains several steps, including:Initiating the projectInformation-gathering phase, featuring business impact analysis (BIA) and risk assessment (RA)Plan developmentPlan testing, maintenance and updatingOnce the business has decided to undertake the planning process, the BIA and RA help to collect important data. The BIA pinpoints the mission-critical functions that must continue during a crisis and the resources needed to maintain those operations. The RA details the potential internal and external risks and threats, the likelihood of them happening and the possible damage they can cause.The next step determines the best ways to deal with the risks and threats outlined in the BIA and RA, and how to limit damage from an event. A successful business continuity plan defines step-by-step procedures for response. The BCP should not be overly complex and does not need to be hundreds of pages long; it should contain just the right amount of information to keep the business running. For a small business, especially, a one-page plan with all the necessary details can be more helpful than a long one that is overwhelming and difficult to use. Those details should include the minimum resources needed for business continuance, the locations where that may take place, the personnel needed to accomplish it and potential costs.Watch this video to understand perfectly.The BCP should be current and accurate, which can be achieved through regular testing and maintenance. A business continuity plan test can be as simple as talking through the plan and as complex as a full run-through of what will happen in the event of a business disruption. The test can be planned well in advance or it can be more spur-of-the-moment to better simulate an unplanned event. If issues arise during testing, the plan should be corrected accordingly during the maintenance phase. Maintenance also includes a review of the critical functions outlined in the BIA and the risks described in the RA, as well as plan updating if necessary.A business continuity plan is a living document and should not sit on the shelf waiting for a crisis. It needs to be continually improved and staff should be kept up to date through regular educational awareness and testing activities. In addition, an internal or external business continuity plan audit evaluates the effectiveness of the BCP and highlights areas for improvement.Business continuity planning software, tools and trendsThere is help available to guide organizations through the business continuity planning process, from consultants to tools to full software. An organization bases its investment in assistance on the complexity of the business continuity planning task, amount of time and budget. Before making a purchase, it is advisable to research both products and vendors, evaluate demos and talk to other users.The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's Business Continuity Planning booklet contains guidance for financial -- and nonfinancial -- professionals, delving into the BIA, RA, BC plan development and testing, standards and training.For more complicated functions, business continuity planning software uses databases and modules for specific exercises. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, through its Plan Ahead for Disasters website, offers software in its "Business Continuity Planning Suite." Other business continuity software vendors include ClearView, Continuity Logic, Fusion and Sungard Availability Services.The role of the business continuity professional has changed and continues to evolve. As IT administrators are increasingly asked to do more with less, it is advisable for business continuity professionals to be well versed in technology, security, risk management, emergency management and strategic planning. Business continuity planning must also take into account emerging and growing technologies -- such as the cloud and virtualization -- and new threats, such as cyberattacks like ransomware.Business continuity planning standardsBusiness continuity planning standards provide a starting point.According to Kirvan, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 22301:2012 standard is generally regarded as the global standard for business continuity management. ISO 22301:2012 is often complemented by other standards, such as:ISO 22313: Guidance for a business continuity management system and continual improvementISO 22317: Guidelines for business impact analysisISO 22318: Continuity of supply chainsISO 22398: Exercise guidelinesISO 22399: Incident preparednessOther standards include:National Fire Protection Association 1600: Emergency management and business continuityNational Institute of Standards and Technology SP 800-34: IT contingency planningBritish Standards Institution BS 25999: The British standard for business continuityEmergency management and disaster recovery plans in BC planningAn emergency management plan is a document that helps to mitigate the damage of a hazardous event. Proper business continuity planning includes emergency management as an important component. The specifically defined emergency management team takes the lead during a business disruption.The emergency management plan, like the BCP, should be reviewed, tested and updated accordingly. It should be fairly simple and provide the steps necessary to get through an event. The plan also should be flexible, because situations are often very fluid, and the team should communicate frequently during the incident.Disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity planning are often linked, but they are different. A DR plan details how an organization recovers after a business disruption. A business continuity plan is a more proactive approach, as it describes how an organization can maintain operations during an emergency.Network securityNetwork security consists of the policies and practices adopted to prevent and monitor unauthorized access, misuse, modification, or denial of a computer network and network-accessible resources. Network security involves the authorization of access to data in a network, which is controlled by the network administrator. Users choose or are assigned an ID and password or other authenticating information that allows them access to information and programs within their authority. Network security covers a variety of computer networks, both public and private, that are used in everyday jobs; conducting transactions and communications among businesses, government agencies and individuals. Networks can be private, such as within a company, and others which might be open to public access. Network security is involved in organizations, enterprises, and other types of institutions. It does as its title explains: It secures the network, as well as protecting and overseeing operations being done. The most common and simple way of protecting a network resource is by assigning it a unique name and a corresponding password.Network Security conceptOnce authenticated, a firewall enforces access policies such as what services are allowed to be accessed by the network users.Though effective to prevent unauthorized access, this component may fail to check potentially harmful content such as computer worms or Trojans being transmitted over the network. Anti-virus software or an intrusion prevention system (IPS)help detect and inhibit the action of such malware. An anomaly-based intrusion detection system may also monitor the network like wireshark traffic and may be logged for audit purposes and for later high-level analysis. Newer systems combining unsupervised machine learning with full network traffic analysis can detect active network attackers from malicious insiders or targeted external attackers that have compromised a user machine or account.OPSEC (operational security)OPSEC (operational security) is an analytical process that classifies information assets and determines the controls required to protect these assets.OPSEC originated as a military term that described strategies to prevent potential adversaries from discovering critical operations-related data. As information management and protection has become important to success in the private sector, OPSEC processes are now common in business operations.Operational security five-step processOperational security typically consists of a five-step iterative process:1. Identify critical information: The first step is to determine exactly what data would be particularly harmful to an organization if it was obtained by an adversary. This includes intellectual property, employees' and/or customers' personally identifiable information and financial statements.2. Determine threats: The next step is to determine who represents a threat to the organization's critical information. There may be numerous adversaries that target different pieces of information, and companies must consider any competitors or hackers that may target the data.3. Analyze vulnerabilities: In the vulnerability analysis stage, the organization examines potential weaknesses among the safeguards in place to protect the critical information that leave it vulnerable to potential adversaries. This step includes identifying any potential lapses in physical/electronic processes designed to protect against the predetermined threats, or areas where lack of security awareness training leaves information open to attack.4. Assess risks: After vulnerabilities have been determined, the next step is to determine the threat level associated with each of them. Companies rank the risks according to factors such as the chances a specific attack will occur and how damaging such an attack would be to operations. The higher the risk, the more pressing it will be for the organization to implement risk management controls.5. Apply appropriate countermeasures: The final step consists of implementing a plan to mitigate the risks beginning with those that pose the biggest threat to operations. Potential security improvements stemming from the risk mitigation plan include implementing additional hardware and training or developing new information governance policies.You can also watch video to optimise or enhance your knowledge -OPSEC and risk managementWhen it comes to risk management, OPSEC encourages managers to view operations or projects from the outside-in, or from the perspective of competitors (or enemies) in order to identify weaknesses. If an organization can easily extract their own information while acting as an outsider, odds are adversaries outside the organization can as well. Completing regular risk assessments and OPSEC is key to identifying vulnerabilities.OPSEC trainingThe Center for Development of Security Excellence (CDSE) offers diverse security training for military members, Department of Defense (DoD) employees and DoD contractors. CDSE's training programs are presented through a variety of platforms including e-learning, webinars, virtual classes and in-person instruction. Topics covered in OPSEC training include:CounterintelligenceCybersecurityInsider threatsPersonnel securityPhysical securityOperations securityCDSE's OPSEC Awareness training program is presented on their Security Awareness Hub. This course is free and its goal is to ensure safe and successful operations and personal safety by providing information on the need to protect unclassified information regarding operations and personal information.Educating the end user and eliminating the biggest security riskWhen weighing up the biggest security hazards to an organisation, it may come as a surprise to discover that the end user within the organisation is often the first to compromise security.Through no fault of their own, and mainly due to a lack of awareness, employees frequently open the virtual gates to attackers.With the rise in cybercrime as well as the increase in the consumerisation of IT and BYOD, it is more important than ever to fully educate employees about security attacks and protection.Although BYOD has given them an increased level of flexibility, it has also given the end user even more potential to cause security breaches.Threat actors actively target end-users as a primary route to compromise. Some criminals may be targeting the end-user directly, for example to conduct financial fraud, others will be leveraging the user to gain access to the organisations IT infrastructure.It is important to note that threat actors can target end users on their home networks and mobile devices, who will then unwittingly bring the “infection” inside the organisation.Increasingly these days, the criminals use a technique called spear phishing; an attacker sends a highly targeted email, often with personal contextual details that fools the user into clicking a link and, unknown to them, downloading malware.Once this has been downloaded, it provides access to the end users device which is used as a launch point to harvest network information and expand control inside the network.Due to the detrimental ramifications, it is vital that end users have a full understanding of the most common ways for threat actors to target them.This includes educating employees that they will be targeted, encouraging them to be vigilant at all times, teaching employees what qualifies as sensitive data, how to identify and avoid threats, acceptable use policies and security policies.It’s also crucial that end users understand their role and responsibilities in maintaining the organisation’s compliance with relevant regulations, such as PCI DSS for payment card data or HIPAA for health records.In short, educating the work force is critical and is a key requirement of information security standards such as ISO27001.There are a number of ways that security awareness training can be delivered to end users. The most popular tends to be the e-learning variety, where online courses covering the essentials of security awareness are mandated for all employees.This would teach the user that they are a target, how to look out for social engineering and phishing, password security, handling of sensitive data, plus any specific compliance-driven requirements.This is good for compliance and building a basic level of awareness, but it might not engage the user as well as it could.The most effective way the CIO can deliver practical and memorable education is to make it real and physically demonstrate what can be achieved as a result of an attack.Taking employees through a real life example of someone clicking an email which looks authentic presents what takes place behind the scenes and makes evident the power the attacker acquires.This illustrates precisely what a threat entails in an easy to understand and influential manner.BYOD means users must be aware of the risks and responsible for their own ongoing security, as well as the business.Employees who manage both their work and private lives on one device access secure business information, as well as personal information such as passwords and pictures.Ensuring that they know the right procedures for accessing and protecting business information is crucial.Making it personal and teaching employees how to protect their own data adds value by highlighting how a threat could impact their personal life as well as their employer.Implementing best practice will then become second nature as people adopt the same practices in both their personal and professional lives.While giving consideration to security awareness training to the whole organisation, special thought must be given to the education of an even more crucial group – the senior management team.Most members of most SMTs have very little knowledge or awareness of information security as it’s not their domain and it’s traditionally something that’s delegated.However news today is filled with companies suffering severe reputational damage, and in some cases ceasing trading, due to information security breaches.Getting time with the SMT to present a high-level analysis of the risks faced by a business and market, and giving examples of businesses not taking those risks seriously enough, should be high on any CIO or CISOs priority list. It will also help when trying to secure investment to mitigate those risks.Although end user education will help to prevent the risk of human error, it’s impossible to eliminate it completely.Protection of assets and detection of malicious activity is just as important, if not more so; the CIO needs to protect end users from their own mistakes.Processes and technology can be put in place to limit and control what information end users can access within a network as well as the actions they can take.In order to take control and minimise risks, end users should only have access to the information necessary for them to perform their roles.As a final point to consider, the security of an organisation relies on detection. Prevention is important but detection is crucial.The key to tackling threats is determining what normal behaviour is, as an enabler for the identification of anomalous activity.If an organisation understands their baseline then this makes it a lot easier to spot abnormalities, such as excessive access to information or out of the ordinary access requests.It was very hard to write this big information but finally i did it.Thanks for reading.