Even among those in the security field, cybersecurity and information are frequently used interchangeably. However, the two terms are not synonymous. They each address different types of security and understanding each term is critical for any organization investing in a proper security framework.
What is information security?
The primary goal of information security is to protect to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of data in any form. Information security can be as simple as safeguarding a filing cabinet full of important documents as it can be as complex as safeguarding your organization's database.
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is concerned with preventing data in electronic form from being compromised or attached. Cybersecurity plays a more active role in protecting servers, endpoints, databases, and networks by identifying security gaps and misconfigurations that lead to vulnerabilities. They also determine the critical data nature and location as well as its risk exposure and assessment.
Cybersecurity vs information security | Difference between cybersecurity and information security:
- Cybersecurity is focused solely on online threats, while information security takes a mile-high view of the security landscape.
- Cybersecurity learns to think like a hacker, while information security deals with the protection of data from any threat.
- Cybersecurity is handled by professionals who are trained to deal with advanced persistent threats specifically. Information security lays the foundation of data security and is trained to prioritize resources first before eradicating the threats or attacks.
- Cybersecurity develops an understanding of malicious software, while information security oversees unauthorized access/modification/disruption.
- Cybersecurity acts as the first line of defense, while information security makes plans to recover from a breach.
- Network security, application security cloud security, critical security are the example of cybersecurity, While the access control, procedure control, access control, technical control, compliance control are the example fo cybersecurity.
- Cybersecurity is meant to protect against attacks in cyberspace such as data, storage source devices, etc. While information security deals with unauthorized access, disclosure, modification, and disruption.