Cybersecurity refers to the systematic approach to protecting the control of electronic devices that have advanced or semi-advanced capabilities, such as storing or making decisions by manipulating the stored data.
Let’s be clear with an example: when you transfer a certain amount of Australian dollars (AUD) using the Apple Pay App, the receiver, the amount of transfer, and the time of transfer all of these three aspects depend on your decision. This is how the cyber systems are designed, to keep the control exclusive to the nominated owner of the data.
Have you ever given a thought about how users get nominated as authorised users? Well, in today’s world, you will hardly find an adult person who is not familiar with the word “Password”. This is because from the early days of modern computers, passwords have been the nominating system (formally known as the primary authentication method) to enter the user interface of computers. Computers typically have no idea about who is entering the password. If the username and password are correct, it allows the user to log in.
This limitation of the user authentication process led to a disaster. Between February 2001 and March 2002, a 36-year-old Scottish systems administrator and hacker deleted critical files from operating systems on the computer used in the US Administrative Offices and military facilities, which shut down the United States Army’s Military District of Washington network of 2000 computers for 24 hours. The hacker also posted a notice on the hacked military websites: “Your security is crap”.
Although the banner sounds creepy and equally hilarious, the reactions were not. The tech world was shocked by a clear message that derives from this incident. The level of threats that cyber vulnerabilities can impose. If advanced facilities like NASA and a US military base are not immune, then what about general facilities?
This incident was a significant milestone in the development of today’s cybersecurity industry. However, the research about cybersecurity (primarily known as “cybernetics”) began much earlier, back in the early 1940s.
From the Greek “κυβερνήτης” to Modern Day Cyber Security: A Journey That Started Nearly 100 Years Ago
The word Cyber is derived from the loanword “Cybernet”. Which is derived from the Greek word “κυβερνήτης” that means the “steering wheel” of ships or the “control of steering”.
The most crucial initiator of cybernetics was Norbert Wiener (l894–1964) with his book “Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine”.
Later in 1983, William Gibson used the term “cyber security” in his novel “Neuromancer”. Prior to that, the concept of securing digital systems was emerging since the 1970s, but the term itself gained prominence through Gibson’s work.
The Formal Definitions of Cyber Security and IEC 27032:2023(en) Cybersecurity — Guidelines for Internet or Cyber Security
Different organisations have defined Cybersecurity, where the idea is quite or entirely the same: protecting authorised users from damage or intentional manipulation by unauthorised intruders (also known as Hackers) of their devices or systems. Here are some definitions by different authorities,
1. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) – USA
“The ability to protect or defend the use of cyberspace from cyber attacks.”
2. IEC ( International Electrotechnical Commission)
Different industries have adopted the integration of automation technology to varying extents, depending on the specific circumstances, customisation needs, and financial advantages. Hence, the ICE standards also vary,
- IEC 62443
This series of standards focuses on cybersecurity for industrial automation and control systems (IACS). It provides a comprehensive framework for securing IACS throughout their lifecycle, addressing aspects such as risk assessment, secure product development, and operational security.
- IEC 62351
This series addresses cybersecurity for power system communication protocols, including IEC 61850. It specifies security requirements for data and communication security, role-based access control, key management, and security event logging.
- ISO/IEC 27402:2023 – IoT security and privacy
This standard provides baseline ICT requirements for Internet of Things (IoT) devices to support security and privacy controls.
While these standards do not offer a singular definition of cybersecurity, they collectively contribute to a comprehensive understanding of cybersecurity within their respective domains.
Why Cyber Security is Important?
Cybersecurity is essential because of the secretive nature of cyber crimes. The invisibility and destructive power of cyberattacks are also equally concerning. Often, cyber criminals circumvent the security measures by vicious acts of disruption, damage, or even destruction on businesses. Which eventually impacts related communities and human lives.
Successful cyberattacks can lead to serious crimes, including the use of stolen identities in criminal activities. Once control of access is gained, criminals often use this as a weapon of personal and corporate extortion or ransomware.
The financial impact of cyber crimes can be severe, including temporary business outages, economic losses, customer dissatisfaction (as seen in the recent M&S cyber incident in April 2025), and, in some cases, the dissolution of businesses.
Cyberattacks have a significant and growing impact on businesses and the economy worldwide, particularly in developed countries. According to one estimate, cybercrime is expected to cost the global economy, including Australia, USD 10.5 trillion (approximately AUD 16.065 trillion) per annum by 2025. The cost of cyberattacks continues to rise as cybercriminals become more sophisticated in terms of technology, capabilities to disrupt, and financial loot.
Nowadays, another group of cybercriminals commonly targets teens and Gen Z by hacking their social media accounts, which are often used on cellphones. Eventually taking control over sensitive personal information, infographics, and intellectual properties, and so on.
Key Takeaways from IBM’s latest Cost of a Data Breach Report :
- The average cost of a data breach increased to USD 4.88 million (AUD 7.47 million) from USD 4.45 million(AUD 6.81 million) in 2023, representing a 10% rise and the highest increase since the pandemic.
- Business losses (revenue loss due to system downtime, lost customers, and reputational damage) and post-breach response costs (costs to set up call centres and credit monitoring services for affected customers or to pay regulatory fines) rose nearly 11% over the previous year.
- There is a 22.7% increase in the number of organisations paying more than USD 50,000(AUD 75,310 according to 2023 USD vs AUD exchange rates) in regulatory fines in 2023 due to a data breach over the previous year; those paying more than USD 100,000 rose by 19.5%.
Cybersecurity Challenges
The primary challenge is the sheer number of devices, users, and systems, as well as their rapid growth. For example, millions of new users register for various online payment services every day. New accounts, latest transactions, and new data, as the number grows, the pressure on the cybersecurity experts keeps escalating every day.
Secondly, the super-fast pattern of the tech world. With many advantages, newer technologies also open new opportunities for criminals. As not all the vulnerabilities can be identified on the first day, it offers low-hanging fruit for cyber intruders. Crypto swaps can be a perfect example of such. More challenges can be like,
The ubiquitous use of cloud computing increases network management complexity and raises the risk of misconfigurations in cloud-based systems, improperly secured API (Application Programming Interfaces), and other avenues that hackers can exploit.
Another big concern is the increasing number of remote jobs. The more remote work, hybrid work, and bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies there are, the more connections, devices, applications, and data cybersecurity teams must protect.
The proliferation of the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected devices, many of which are unsecured or improperly secured by default, can be easily hijacked by malicious actors. The most concerning part here is that if a hacker has access to one device that is connected to a system, they often get access to other devices in the network by default.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and generative AI in particular, presents an entirely new threat landscape that hackers are already exploiting through techniques such as prompt injection. According to recent research from the IBM® Institute for Business Value, only 24% of generative AI initiatives are secured. That means hackers have open access to 76% of the resources of AI LLM (Large Language Models), which potentially can be used for developing new malware.
The cybersecurity worker gap is another notable bottleneck in this process. As the global cyber surface expands, the cybersecurity workforce struggles to keep up with the pace. A study by the World Economic Forum found that the gap between the number of cybersecurity workers and the number of jobs that need to be filled could reach 85 million workers by 2030 worldwide.
Closing this skills gap can have an impact. According to the Cost of a Data Breach 2024 Report, organisations experiencing a high-level shortage of security skills incurred an average cost per breach of $5.74 million, compared to $3.98 million for organisations with lower-level skills shortages. This means the organisations with an in-house IT team or third-party managed IT services have saved more than $1.8 million, potentially protecting them from possible data breaches that could be damaging.
Resource-strained security teams are increasingly turning to security technologies featuring advanced analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and automation to strengthen their cyber defences and minimise the impact of successful attacks.
Introduction to Cyber Threats: How Criminals Can Use Vulnerabilities of Cyber Systems
Understanding cyber threats is the first possible measure that can be taken by any person or enterprise to achieve immunity from cyberattacks. Let’s start with the definition of cyber threats,
A cyber or cybersecurity threat is a malicious act that intends to damage, steal, or disrupt digital information. Cyber threats include computer viruses, worms, trojans, adware, ransomware, data breaches, Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks, and other malicious attack vectors.
Cyber threats also refer to the possibility of a successful cyber attack that aims to gain unauthorised access and cause damage, disrupt, or steal an IT asset, such as a computer network, intellectual property, or any other form of sensitive data.
Cyber threats can come from within an organisation, from trusted users, or from remote locations by unknown parties. In the section that follows, we will briefly discuss 5 common types of malware (malicious software) and how they pose a threat to your cyber system and its security.
The Types of Malware: 6 Common Threats to Your Cybersecurity
Malware is malicious software that is deliberately designed to make changes in systems without the user’s consent. They are pieces of programming code that can alter the way a system behaves, operates, makes decisions, or calculates. The five most common types of melware are,
- Computer Virus
A Virus is a malicious executable code attached to another executable file that can be harmless or can modify or delete data. When the computer program runs with a virus, it performs some action, such as deleting a file from the computer system. Viruses can’t be controlled remotely. For instance, the ILOVEYOU virus spreads through email attachments.
- Worms
Worms are similar to viruses, but they do not modify the program. It replicates itself more and more, slowing down the computer system. Worms can be controlled remotely. The main objective of worms is to eat the system’s resources. The WannaCry ransomware worm exploits the Windows Server Message Block (SMBv1), a resource-sharing protocol.
The term “worm” was first used in this sense in John Brunner’s 1975 novel, The Shockwave Rider. In the novel, Nichlas Haflinger designs and sets off a data-gathering worm in an act of revenge against the influential people who run a national electronic information web that induces mass conformity.
On November 2, 1988, Robert Morris, a computer science student at Cornell University, released the first worm onto the Internet from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Trojans (Also known as the Trojan Horse)
Trojans are a slightly more sophisticated type of malware compared to the first two types we have discussed. Both the virus and worm enter a computer system or device, often without the user being aware of it. Being self-installed malware, they don’t infect through deliberate user installation. In contrast, a Trojan horse, or Trojan, disguises itself as a legitimate program or file and tricks users into running it. They appear as legitimate software, and when a user installs it in the system, it acts independently, executing actions that steal, destroy, or spy on the system.
- Ransomware
The basic difference between all other malware and ransomware is that ransomware is not designed to destroy. Instead, this malware type is designed to lock the system, restraining users from using one or more computer programs. While viruses, worms, and trojans are often not followed by an approach from hackers for ransom, ransomware has this characteristic. The attacker typically demands money or other financial resources, such as cryptocurrency, from the system owner in exchange for regaining access.
- Adware
This type of attack targets a system when a user clicks on a malicious online advertisement. The most dangerous feature of this malware is that it combines high-standard copywriting with expert coding.
The hackers meticulously design an ad that attracts clicks. When a user clicks the advertisement, the code inside the ad is executed within the system. Although it is questionable from an ethical perspective, marketers often use this type to collect information about user behaviour. However, the financial impacts are typically minimal or not specified in such cases.
- Spyware
As the name suggests, this malware is designed for spying purposes. Often funded and developed by states, this software has a reputation for high effectiveness, albeit at a high cost of investment. A notorious spyware, Pegasus, was allegedly used to spy on the cell phones of different state leaders, as reported in different trusted news sources.
Here is a quick chart outlining different types of malware for your review.
| Malware Type | How It Spreads | What It Does | Key Characteristics | Real-World Example |
| Virus | Via infected files or software | Replicates and corrupts data or programs | Needs a host to run and spread | ILOVEYOU virus (2000) |
| Worm | Through networks or email attachments | Self-replicates and overloads networks | Does not need a host; it spreads automatically | Morris Worm (1988) |
| Trojan | Disguised as legitimate software | Steals, deletes, or spies on data | Requires the user to install it | Zeus Trojan (banking malware) |
| Ransomware | Via phishing or exploit kits | Locks data and demands payment | Encrypts files and holds them hostage | WannaCry (2017) |
| Adware | Through malicious ads (malvertising) | Displays unwanted ads, tracks activity | Click-driven and often bundled with freeware | Fireball adware (2017) |
| Spyware | Hidden in apps or websites | Monitors and steals user data | Silent and stealthy | Pegasus (allegedly used on phones) |
Your First Step Towards a Cyber-Secured Device or Network System
The first step to achieving a secure cyber ecosystem is to gather as much information as possible. The more you know, the greater the chance increases to keep yourself and your business safe from cyber attacks. Secondly, avoid using unreliable sources to download software from the internet.
The third is not using hard drives that you are not sure about being safe and trusted. Last but not least, one should not be prone to any kind of bait. If it is about a business organisation, cyber threats or cyber attack strategies can be carefully designed that can easily bypass regular safety standards. In such cases, seeking help from professional Managed IT service providers can mitigate the risk of cyber attacks.
Use strong passwords and two-factor authentication as primary safety measures. Stay safe, stay productive.
Glossary of Common Cybersecurity Terms
| Term | Definition |
| Authentication | The process of verifying a user’s identity before allowing access to a system. |
| Encryption | The process of converting data into code is to prevent unauthorized access. |
| Firewall | A security system that monitors and controls incoming and outgoing network traffic. |
| Malware | Malicious software is designed to harm, exploit, or disrupt devices or systems. |
| Phishing | A method of tricking users into giving away sensitive information via fake emails or websites. |
| Ransomware | A type of malware that locks or encrypts data and demands payment to unlock it. |
| Spyware | Malware that secretly monitors user activity and collects personal information. |
| Trojan Horse | Malware disguised as legitimate software that tricks users into installing it. |
| Virus | A type of malware that attaches to files and spreads when the infected file is opened. |
| Worm | Self-replicating malware that spreads without user interaction. |
| Exploit | A piece of code or method used to take advantage of a vulnerability in a system. |
| Zero-Day | A security flaw that is unknown to the software vendor and exploited by hackers before it’s patched. |
| Payload | The part of malware that performs a malicious action, such as stealing data or deleting files. |
| Social Engineering | Psychological manipulation of individuals to deceive them into disclosing confidential information. |
| Botnet | A network of infected devices controlled remotely by a hacker, often used for large-scale attacks. |
Cyber Security FAQ
- What is DDoS in cybersecurity?
A DDoS Attack, also known as “Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) Attack,” is a cybercrime in which the attacker floods a server with internet traffic to prevent users from accessing connected online services and websites.
- What is Phishing in Cybersecurity?
Phishing is the practice of sending fraudulent communications that appear to originate from a legitimate and reputable source, typically via email and text messaging. Usually used to trick users into downloading malware.
- What is Multi-factor Authentication?
Multi-factor Authentication (MFA) is an authentication method that requires the user to provide two or more verification factors to gain access to a resource, such as an application, online account, or VPN. MFA is a core component of a strong identity and access management (IAM) policy. Rather than just asking for a username and password, MFA requires one or more additional verification factors, which decreases the likelihood of a successful cyber attack.
- What is NIST in Cybersecurity?
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) was founded in 1901 and is now part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. NIST is one of the nation’s oldest physical science laboratories. The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) is a key resource for organisations looking to manage and reduce their cybersecurity risks in the USA.
Consider the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) for a clear understanding. It is the national authority on cybersecurity in Australia, which provides guidance and frameworks tailored to Australian organisations.
- What is Zero Trust in Cybersecurity?
Zero Trust is a security model based on maintaining strict access controls and not trusting anyone by default. Learn more about Zero Trust.
- What is ZTNA?
Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) is a category of technologies that provides secure remote access to applications and services based on defined access control policies.
- What Does SANS Stand for?
In the field of cybersecurity, SANS stands for SysAdmin, Audit, Network, and Security. The SANS Institute is a well-known and respected organisation offering cybersecurity training, certifications, and research.
- What Is SASE in Cybersecurity?
SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) is a cybersecurity framework that combines wide area networking (WAN) capabilities with security services to provide secure and dynamic access to applications and resources. It unifies network connectivity and security functions into a single cloud-delivered service.
- What is SIEM in Cybersystem?
SIEM, or Security Information and Event Management, is a cybersecurity technology that helps organisations analyse and respond to security threats by collecting, aggregating, and correlating security data from various sources. It acts as a centralised security control centre, providing real-time visibility and historical analysis to detect and respond to potential security incidents.
- What is SPF?
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) is an email authentication method designed to detect and prevent email spoofing. SPF allows domain owners to specify which mail servers are authorised to send emails on behalf of their domain.
- What is MFA in cybersecurity?
In cybersecurity, MFA, or Multi-Factor Authentication, is a security measure that requires users to provide two or more authentication factors to access a resource, such as an application or account. Instead of relying solely on a username and password, MFA adds an additional layer of security by requiring users to verify their identity in multiple ways.
- What does PII stand for in cybersecurity?
Personally identifiable information (PII) is any data that could potentially identify a specific individual.
- What is tailgating in cybersecurity?
Tailgating (also known as piggybacking) is a physical security breach where an unauthorised person enters a restricted area by following an authorised individual, often without proper authentication. It’s a form of social engineering that exploits human behaviour and weaknesses to gain unauthorised access.
- Which Psychology Major is Most Related to Cybersecurity?
Cyber Psychology is the most directly related psychology major to cybersecurity. It focuses on how people interact with technology and the internet. This field studies online behaviour, digital addiction, online identity, and how people respond to cyber threats.
- What is Social Engineering in Cybersecurity?
Social engineering is the tactic of manipulating, influencing, or deceiving a victim to gain control over a computer system or steal personal and financial information using malware.
