Cybersecurity: The Essential That You Must Know
Introduce the fundamentals: what cybersecurity is, why it matters, and the basic terms and concepts that everyone should know.
What is Cybersecurity?
It is the practice of protecting computers, but not only computers, also defending networks and any kind of information from any evil person. This includes information from your bank account to your barbecue pics from that day you told to your bosses that you were sick, as well as any kind of malware.
Why Does Cybersecurity Matter?
Imagine someone having access to your private conversations with friends or even your dates, taking control of your social network, or even worse! Send messages to all your exs from your accounts. Definitely worse than alcohol, right?
Protects Personal Information from any external person or entity. Ok, unfortunately maybe not from the government.
Prevents Cyber Attacks where malware can infect computers and cause serious problems. Imagine trying to reduce your carbon handprint by spending a lot of money on the most efficient systems, becoming infested, and then starting to mine bitcoins for another random person at the cost of high electricity consumption, and even worse, the bill 😱!
Keeps Businesses Safe including your customers' data, you don't want to lose the credibility of your customers, but not only that. Imagine what could happen if another company had taken the Coca Cola recipe before it became popular. Maybe that company would not exist anymore, and instead, we would have another one like Cola-Ine or Pepsi.
Avoids Identity Theft is not only about sending messages to your exs, imagine someone taking a huge credit or renting a camper in your name and starting to make blue stuff inside, and not the good one! You will have many answers to give to the police.
Basic Cybersecurity Terms You Should Know
Hacker: A person who tries to break into computers or networks. Some hackers are bad (black hat), but others help improve security (white hat).
Malware: Any software designed to harm your computer, like viruses, worms, and spyware.
Virus: Is a software or code that tries to replicate itself to infect all possible devices.
Worm: Malware like a virus that doesn't need any application to be sent or infected.
Trojan: Malware tries to look like legitimate software to allow access to other external users, take information, or control a device.
Phishing: A trick where cybercriminals send fake emails or messages to steal personal information.
Firewall: A security system that blocks unwanted traffic from reaching your computer.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA): An extra security step that requires a second form of verification (like a text code) along with your password.
Encryption: A way to scramble information so that only the right person can read it.
VPN (Virtual Private Network): A tool that hides your online activity and keeps you private on the internet.
Social Engineering: When hackers trick people into giving away personal information, often by pretending to be someone trustworthy.
Ransomware: A type of malware that locks your files and demands payment to unlock them.
Zero-Day Attack: A cyberattack that takes advantage of a security flaw before it gets fixed.