Cybersecurity for Beginners: Definitive Guide

If you are here means, it is taken for granted that you may be one among the CyberSecurity Newbies.
 

Though you are Beginner to the cybersecurity world, the risks in the digital space are as similar to the risks in the real world.
 

The vulnerabilities you face in the real world like fear for car theft, loss of a gold chain, encounter an accident at a pedestrian crossing in an unattended traffic signal, suitcase robbery in a train, and so forth. Most of these attacks/accidents are predictable and could be taken care with a little attention and following good habits
.

Likewise, in the cyber world, one has to be aware of vulnerabilities for data involved in transit to rest. Accordingly, one must secure the data, email, web, application, infrastructure, endpoints, system, and manage identity, compliance, control, unified threats, incidents, and so forth by following best practices.
 

On an individual level, it is recommended to protect confidential information rather than prioritizing convenience over security by keeping simple passwords, reusing of passwords, or writing down passwords list.
 

Still, cybersecurity cannot be left under the grace of an individual or just entering the strong password. It’s an interwoven process to protect systems, data, and, the identities at each step and hour of the day. It is a combination of the practices and processes specially designed to protect the computers, data, programs, and the networks.
 

Cybersecurity’s influence extends to know the source and nature of the threats, infrastructure beyond the network, network policy, cyber threat awareness, threat information sharing, and so forth.

1. Cyber Threat Zones:
 

Cybercrime is borderless and nationless. As we live in a networked world, each aspect of our life activities is prone to a cyber threat.
 

A few of the common security breaches include:
 

1.i. Conventional crimes: All types of traditional maliciousness is expected as a result of fraud or theft.
 

1.ii. Remote crimes: With the adoption of IoTs to lock a door, it is obvious that one may expect his doors getting unlocked.
 

1.iii. Financial crimes: E-commerce being on the edge, it is anticipated that one may lose his credit card details, address, family details, and, other personal data.
 

1.iv. Utility bills: Every transaction today is almost online. For instance: electricity bill payment, water bill, and etc. The RFID systems could be easily cloned.
 

1.v. Business crimes: From the day one, business is always at risk to lose customer/shareholders details. And it is true for online mode too.
 

1.vi. Mobile crimes: As people are dependent on mobile usage, it is expected that they keep a copy of their financial details for ready access on the mobile, and it forms the ready-target for the attackers.
 

1.vii. Exploitation: It has to be noted that the professional rivals may steal the details of competitors so as to ruin their reputation and trust among the customers and the allied agencies.
 

1.viii. Bot crimes: These days, the e-commerce businesses are relying on bot operation to cut down human intervention at every point. It could be easily hijacked for a bidding.

1.ix. Government agencies: Even government bodies and agencies are vulnerable to cyber attack to steal the documentation and other important data.
 

2. Moving further, let us see how these crimes start with. The different types of cyber attacks are mentioned below.
 

2.i. Vulnerabilities: The vulnerabilities exist in the system during its installation, designing or implementation of a software.
 

2.ii. Backdoors: The unauthorized persons may make way into a system without the knowledge. At times, it could be intentionally done for maintenance.
 

2.iii. Direct access attacks: When a camcorder or other storage devices are added to the system, it also becomes vectors for worms, viruses, and other malware.
 

2.iv. Tampering: The installation of rootkit or the surveillance capability on the router allows access to the computer network partially or completely.
 

2.v. Privilege Escalation: The user having certain privileges may take advantage of heightened privileges and access the entire system.
 

2.vi. Phishing: The involved person may represent himself as the legitimate representative and acquire sensitive information.
 

2.vii. Ransomware: It could be installed during a phishing scam that locks the data systems and the individual devices as well.
 

2.viii. Social Engineering: The attackers pose as the authority or friendly figures, get connected and acquire the sensitive or personal data.  
 

And more.
 

3. CyberSecurity Frameworks and Policy:
 

Some of the precautionary measures to prevent the cyber attack at an individual level include:
 

• Regular update of devices
• Use of strong passwords
• Not sharing details online
• Not using public WiFi networks
• Staying alert for suspicious intrusions
• And so forth.
   

At higher levels, like the organizations, federal agencies, government, agencies, and others, they have their policy frameworks that best describes the management and security policies, guide the organization to be compliant with the regulations.
 

Apart from following best practices, the organizations foster an information security culture. The employees are educated regarding the vigilance they ought to take care.
 

And, they hire people who are well-versed in cybersecurity by undergoing adequate training and earned certifications.
 

The postings related to cybersecurity includes C-suite Level down to Systems Administrator. To mention a few, they are:
 

• Chief Information Security Officer
• Forensic Computer Analyst
• Information Security Analyst
• Penetration Tester
• Security Architect
• IT Security Engineer
• Security Systems Administrator
• IT Security Consultant
   

If you decide to take up the IT Trainings and certifications, the best known available certifications and its vendors/governing bodies are as follows:
 

EC-Council Training Courses:
 

• CSCU: It gives the individuals the necessary skills and knowledge so that they can protect their information assets.
• CEH: When the bad guys are ready to attack you, you have to beat them. This course makes you a good guy.
• ECSA: The course is specially designed to upgrade the skills necessary to be a penetration tester.
• And More
   

CompTIA Training Courses:
 

• CompTIA Security+: The course helps you to set the practices that is standard for IT security and risk management.
• CASP: It is the first mastery-level certification for enterprise technical security that designates you with advanced level security knowledge and skills.
   

[ISC] 2 Courses:
 

• CISSP: It is the gold standard for IT security. It is the advanced level certification for IT professionals.
• CCSP: It is the premier cloud security certification and carries the global credential representing the highest standard of expertise in cloud security.
• CSSLP: The certification mainly lays emphasis on application security for the software development cycle.
   

ISACA Training Courses:
 

• CISA: CISA has become the standard for the employees/consultants working with IT risk management, compliance, and controls.
• CRISC: The certification evaluates the professionals’ risk management proficiency working in a financial firm or the enterprises.
• CISM: It is a management focused certification that promotes international security practices for managing, assessing, and designing enterprise information security.
   

CISCO Training Courses:
 

• CCNA Security: It emphasizes the core security technologies of Cisco in installation, troubleshooting, monitoring, integrity, and confidentiality of network devices
• CCNP Security: It is the job-role focused certification meant for engineers involved in security solutions for the networking environments.
   

Well, it is one of the best decisions to start your career in the realm of cybersecurity and now you are aware of the most popular IT certifications available.
 

I understand, your next obvious question would be how to choose the one among these certification bundles and where to learn. Mercury Solutions Limited is the leading provider of IT Trainings and Certifications programs. Moreover, we stand as the official partners for EC-Council, CompTIA, [ISC]2, Oracle, VMware, and many more. 

We deliver the cutting-edge and innovative methodologies like Classroom Training, Bootcamps, Live Virtual Classrooms and Training on Demand Certifications.
 

You may get in touch with us for any queries regarding the IT Training and Certifications on CyberSecurity or share your comments below.