Cyber Security and Data Protection

Cyber security and data protection go hand in hand in the modern age. Before diving into the
topic let's first have a know how of both the things.

What is cyber security?

The practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks,
and data from malicious attacks is called Cyber Security. Cyber Security is also known as
information technology security or electronic information security. It can be divided into
some common categories. Some of them are:

● Network security can be defined as the practice of securing a computer network from
intruders, whether it is a targeted attack or an opportunistic malware.
● Application security mainly focuses on keeping software and devices free of threats.
● Information security is used to protect the integrity and privacy of data, both in terms
of storage and in transit.
● The processes and decisions for handling and protecting data assets are mainly
included in Operational security.
● Disaster recovery and business continuity define how an organization is designed to
respond to a cyber-security incident or any other event that can cause the loss of
operations or data.
● The most unpredictable cyber-security factor: people are addressed by End-user
education. Anyone can accidentally introduce a virus to a secure system in case they
don't follow the rules for maintaining security.

Types of cyber threats

There are three types of cyber-threats:

1. Cybercrime
2. Cyber-attack
3. Cyberterrorism

Malware

Malware is one of the most common cyber threats. Malware is software that is created to
disrupt or damage a legitimate computer of any user.

There are a number of different types of malware, including:

● Virus:
● Trojans
● Spyware
 ● Ransomware
● Adware
● Botnets
● SQL injection
● Phishing
● Man-in-the-middle attack

What is Data protection?

Data protection is the process of safeguarding important information from corruption,

compromise or loss.

The strategic and procedural steps undertaken to safeguard the privacy, availability, and
integrity of sensitive data are taken care of in Data Protection. It is often used with the term
‘data security.’ These measures are important in order to keep critical information of the
organizations safe from breaches. The main goal of data protection is not only to safeguard
the critical information but also to ensure that the data remains accessible and reliable.

What Are Data Protection Principles?

Data protection principles help protect data and make it available under any circumstances. It
covers operational data backup and business continuity/disaster recovery (BCDR) and
involves implementing aspects of data management and data availability.

Here are key data management aspects relevant to data protection:

● Data availability
● Data lifecycle management
● Information lifecycle management

Data protection regulations govern how different data types are collected, transmitted, and
used.

Why should Data Protection and Cybersecurity Be Used Together?

Combining data protection and cybersecurity is important because for cybersecurity to

protect communications and data there is a need to process the personal data. For this a
continuous assessment of the cybersecurity measures is required to be put in place in order to
verify whether the personal data that is to be processed has the same objectives or not.
Another example of why cybersecurity and data protection should be reinforced to each other
is because of the role of cryptography and encryption, which is crucial to preserve the
confidentiality and integrity of personal data. It is also important as they are the building
blocks of advanced privacy enhancing techniques.
Additionally, concurrently adopting data protection and cybersecurity is a productive way to
enhance the client's satisfaction and trust. This is effective in order to make your client think
that you are invested in protecting their data. This implies that both cybersecurity and data
protection professionals can combine their skills and expertise that can help prevent data
breaches in the future.

What can you achieve if you combine cybersecurity and data protection?

There are several benefits:

● Prevent data breaches. Overseeing both data and systems at the same time leaves less
space for vulnerabilities and exploitations in the data of the users.
● Combining cyber security and data protection can help to address emerging digital
threats. Combining cyber security and data protection can enhance your information
security management system.
● Cyber Security and data protection together can help in reducing the probability of a
data breach that in turn helps you to stay compliant and avoid compliance violation
penalties.
● Comprehensive Defense: Integrating them together provides a more holistic approach
to defending against a wide range of threats.
● Risk Mitigation: By implementing both cybersecurity and data protection measures,
organizations can better identify, assess, and mitigate risks associated with cyber
threats and data breaches.
● Cost Savings: While implementing robust cybersecurity and data protection measures
requires investment, the cost of data breaches and cyber attacks can be far greater.

Both data protection and cybersecurity deal with protecting sensitive data from various digital
threats. That’s why they have become interconnected. Rather than having them respond to a
breach separately, it makes sense to have one integrated approach.

Combining cybersecurity and data protection can create a robust defense strategy, but there
are also some potential disadvantages:

● Complexity
● Cost
● Resource Intensiveness
● Compatibility Issues
● Potential Overhead
● False Sense of Security
● Regulatory Compliance Challenges
● User Resistance
● Impact on Innovation
● Inflexibility