Information Security and Cyber Security

Are Not the Same

A one-word distinction that makes all the difference.

By Benjamin Chen
Dec. 14, 2020

Image courtesy of Pikist

More than 50 nations have already detailed where they stand on the topics
of cyber security, cyber crime, and cyberspace. The prevalence of the
cyber world in today’s age makes this a subject matter that is impossible
to ignore.

In 2011, the United Kingdom classified cyber security as an issue of high

consideration, committing £650 million over four years as a part of their
National Cyber Security Programme.
£650 million equates to about $869,635,000. To put that value into
perspective, if you were to save $100 a day, you would still have to save
for about 23,813 years before reaching $869,635,000. For those of you
worrying about how much you are saving on groceries every week, you’re
going to have to be saving for a couple of years before you reach £650
million. Even though this is undeniably a large sum of money, what is at
stake when dealing with cyber security is not always a matter of money.

This clearly outlines how large of a subject this is, yet there is often a
fundamental misunderstanding when people talk about cyber security and
information security. People need to start to realize this because the
repercussions of the two can be quite different.

In many cases, people use cyber security as a blanket-term: the ​Merriam

Webster dictionary​ defines cyber security as “measures taken to protect a
computer or computer system (as on the Internet) against unauthorized
access or attack.” This grants cyber security a definition that is akin to
information security.

There are numerous ways that people have defined information security.
However, the international standard, ISO/IEC 27002 (2005), states that
information security is the preservation of the confidentiality, integrity and
availability of information. This is a process otherwise known as the CIA
triangle and it refers to the qualities of secure information.

Information and communication technology (ICT) security is a subset of

information security that focuses on protecting the technology that stores
and transmits information. This is important because as a sub-component
of information security, various threats can target vulnerabilities, like ICT,
to access the asset of information; the strength of the whole depends on
the strength of the individual parts that make it up.
An information security incident would entail an infringement of the
confidentiality, integrity, or availability of information. If you were to
assume that information security and cyber security were the same things,
then it would imply that the properties of information security incidents
could also be applied to cyber security incidents. This is simply not true.

In 2018, two 12-year-olds from Florida were arrested for cyber bullying
after they were found to be connected to the case of suicide by their fellow
peer.

In 2018, two-thirds of small businesses in the UK fell victim to cyber

crimes, leading to an average of £65,000 of damages to each business.

Both of these cases, while disheartening, are sadly no rare occurrences.

Additionally, both of these cases are not simple information security
breaches. They do not necessarily just negatively affect the users’
information, rather they attack the other, non-information assets of the
users.

So how does it all relate to each other?

Cyber security deals with the protection of a person, society, or nation’s

interests, which include all their assets, not just the information-based
ones. Just like how ICT security is a sub-component of information
security, these two types of security are parts within the whole of cyber
security. Various threats can access people’s interests through
vulnerabilities from things such as ICT and information.

What is at risk with cyber security is not merely your information. Your
very livelihood can be quickly endangered and jeopardized.
Benjamin Chen

Professor Freeburg

WRIT 2

December 14, 2020

Translating Information

In the advanced age that we live in today, we are more surrounded by new electronics

and technologies than ever before. Even when one thinks that they know about all of the

technologies around them, there is probably another small computer hiding away and out of

sight. This is simply the reality of the world that we now live in. The internet and cyberspace are

two technologies in particular that have been central figures. The combination of these two

creates a vast universe of information; through cyberspace, people can share and exchange

information with public and private parties. This is where the need for security systems come in,

leading to the development of things such as information and communication technology (ICT),

information, and cyber security. Although it is a complex system that works in the background

without exposure by many, this is a topic that is very important for all users of technology. As a

person with a great interest in technology, the ideas of information and cyber security seemed

critical to explore more about. Through this genre translation project, I aimed to translate a

peer-reviewed article about information and cyber security into an opinion piece from a

newspaper.

When initially looking through the two genres, it was clear that addressing the respective

audiences of each piece was necessary to gain a greater grasp of how this project can be

approached. In her essay, “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College

Writing Student,” E. Shelley Reid demonstrates the drastic impact that audience has through the
scenarios of asking for money from various people. The language that one might use with their

best friend is likely to be quite different from the language that one might use when requesting a

loan from a local bank. Similarly, there are language nuances that I had to pay attention to when

looking at my two genres. The audience of the peer-reviewed article comes from ​ScienceDirect,​

a website that provides a wide database of information on research about science, technology,

and medicine. This type of content leads them to have a user base that mostly consists of students

and researchers who are there to study and learn more about a topic they searched up.

Additionally, the article originates from the academic journal, ​Computers & Security​, which is a

highly regarded journal within the IT security field. Likely recognizing this, the author sought to

just convey their information in an accurate and comprehensive manner. The audience of an

opinion piece is different because their readers tend to be the general public (i.e. your average

Joe). This means that writers for opinion pieces tend to take on a more familiar tone and have the

goal of grabbing/maintaining the reader’s attention. With these things in mind, a significant

change was making the article much shorter so that readers would not have to stay drawn in for

as long. I also changed the format of the article, allowing me to add an interesting title and photo

to help gain curiosity from readers.

Next, I had to analyze the rhetorical situation to discern what constraints are associated

with this situation. The “Rhetorical Situation” poster, written by the National Council of

Teachers of English, states that rhetorical situations are composed of three components. One

component of rhetorical situations are the constraints: influences originating beyond the writing,

which interfere with the audience’s perception of the writing or the writer’s ability to influence

the audience. A large constraint that I had was the level of complexity that I was allowed to

delve into due to the nature of my audience being the general public. However, this was clearly
not a constraint that the author of the original article faced. The audience for the original article

included people who are likely already knowledgeable about the subject or are actively trying to

learn more about it, signifying that the author did not have to hold back much or any

information. On the other hand, while there may be a handful of people who may read this

opinion piece and are knowledgeable on the topic, I have to assume that a vast majority of the

readers are relatively new to the subject. This signifies that many of the finer details from the

original article could not be included in the translated version. This was one of the main things

that I thought about when considering what information to include or exclude from the original

article. For topics that I deemed to be of lesser importance, I only provided the reader with a

simple overview. For more significant information, I attempted to simplify it as much as I could

while still preserving enough to ensure a proper understanding of the concept.

Throughout the entire translation process, I had to keep mindful of the “acceptable”

conventions of the opinion piece genre. In Kerry Dirk’s essay, “Navigating Genres,” she utilizes

an example of listening to the lyrics of numerous country music songs to pick up on the

characteristics and patterns of what goes into defining that genre. Following her advice, I read

many opinion pieces before starting my translation. In doing so, I picked up on the type of

language that these articles often contain and the structure that they usually utilize. I learned

about techniques that opinion writers employ, such as breaking up topics into multiple

paragraphs, keeping paragraphs limited to a few sentences, being assertive with my language,

and including eye-catching elements. This process of analyzing other works of the same genre is

further supported by Dirk’s observation of the State of the Union Address, which demonstrates

that examining other works from a genre can provide a good framework for things that I can do

to better conform to the genre norms.

 Aside from just simply translating the same information from the peer-reviewed article

over to the genre of an opinion piece, I sought to build on it within the new context. Through

Laura Bolin Carroll’s essay, “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis,” I

learned about the persuasion techniques of ethos, logos, and pathos. It opened my eyes to how

simple details can have a big impact on people’s perceptions. Applying this knowledge, I felt

that the original article had many aspects of logos, so I aimed to add more elements of pathos

when translating the article. I attempted to achieve this by including real scenarios in the place of

the conceptual situations that were posed in the original article. By including additional

persuasive techniques, I hoped to achieve the closer feeling between the reader and writer which

is more present in opinion pieces than in academic journals.

All in all, through the use of the information and techniques I have gained from various

readings about genre and rhetorical situations, I transformed an academic paper into an opinion

piece. This Writing Project has helped me learn the value of genres, rhetorical situations, and all

of their aspects. Specifically, I utilized the audience to discern the purposes of the two genres,

constraints to determine the limitations of who I am writing for, genre conventions to figure out

the proper diction, and rhetorical devices to increase persuasion. In addition to realizing the value

that each of these aspects can have on one’s writing, I have also learned the importance of all of

these tools working in conjunction. While each of these tools may or may not be impactful

individually, putting them together is what truly helps define and discern genres; a coherent

genre can only be created through the culmination of these components.

 Works Cited

Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.” ​Writing

Spaces: Readings on Writing​, vol. 1, Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 45–58.

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” ​Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing​, vol. 1, Parlor Press,

2010, pp. 249–262.

Reid, E. Shelly. “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing

Student.” ​Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing​, vol. 2, Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 3–23.

"Rhetorical Situation." National Council of Teachers of English, 2010.

Solms, Rossouw Von, and Johan Van Niekerk. “From Information Security to Cyber Security.”

Computers & Security,​ vol. 38, Oct. 2013, pp. 97–102., doi:10.1016/j.cose.2013.04.004.