Internet plays a crucial role in every aspect of human life. Information transmitted over the internet has a great value and directly impacts the lives of people. The theft or destruction of such information leads to tremendous losses to both individuals as well as organizations. It is not only challenging, but also costly to ensure a reliable and systematic protection of information. therefore, cyber security concerns with creating and sustaining processes, which identify emerging threats and provide the most practical and cost-effective countermeasures to address such problems. In order to ensure confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of information, cyber security serves the best solution [1]. One of the most important mandates in the development of an overall cyber security solution is the incorporation of various controls, which ensure the effective management and operation of all cyber security functions.
The solutions offered by cyber security involve a coherent set of best practices that ensure a reasonable state of reliable long-term security. However, firewalls, anti-virus software, intrusion detection systems and other technologies are only a small portion of the overall solution to control cyber-attacks and abnormalities in a network [2]. There is a considerable gap in the field of cyber security, which leaves critical issues misunderstood and undebated. The technical community, which understands the concepts of cyber security often visualizes the world through a specific lens and fails to appreciate the broader picture of non-technical aspects. Every individualized security solution tailored from a set of standardized operating procedures is unique by definition and influenced by a set of considerations, such as context, scope and feasibility. While context refers to the underlying assumptions and conditions applied to specific security setting, scope refers to the priority of the protected data. After defining the countermeasures, it is essential to consider whether or not they are technically feasible so that every security solution is unique.
One of the best solutions to the problems caused by cyber security is the EBK framework. The common elements in the EBK framework are manage, design, implement and evaluate functions [3]. Manage functions supervise and administer the core competency areas, such as technical and operational activities by ensuring the security system with the changing environment. Design functions conceptualize and develop security-related functionality by including technical architecture. Implement functions involve tasks related to the setup of operational security measures. Finally, evaluate functions are internal audits of security functionality. Another possible solution to the problems created by cyber security is the refactored solution developed by various vendors through innovative techniques, which detect polymorphic malware [4].
For example, Symantec is harnessing a hundred million global customer base for the identification of potential malware signatures through the technique of reputation-based signature. FireEye has also created software known as behavioral intrusion detection system (IDS), which uses elements of forensics to automatically identify malicious content as it flows across the internet [5]. Behavioral IDS is an effective solution in observing configuration changes in registry settings, services and the file system through the execution of stiffed content in a virtual machine. Entropy-based malware detection is another solution for the threats caused by cyber security [6]. This technique looks for mathematical similarity to known malware signatures. If a suspicious file nearly matches the same entropy, there is a high possibility for the presence of malware. The technique also creates authentication and authorization systems for users to gain access to data by assigned privileges and permissions.
In spite of developing an ideal solution to treat the problems of cyber security, it is important to note that malicious attackers continuously search for diverse methods and tools to attack the software weaknesses. Therefore, software users, including administrators should defend their computer with new updates in order to mitigate the security risks. Although the models proposed above are efficient in fighting against the vulnerable cyber-attacks, no single software solution is effective to bridge the gap in cyber security if it lacks appropriate configuration and implementation [7]. Education and risk assessment in the context of cyber security go hand in hand as cyber security is an environment, which is highly technical and constantly changing. The approaches defined to fight the issue of cyber security should aim at effectively diagnosing and managing the attacks thereby remediating damage and preparing for disaster recovery in order to prevent future attacks. Therefore, a global and nuanced understanding of cyber security is the only option, which enables to detect attacks and increase critical network survivability.
Bibliography
[1] [7] Johnson, Thomas A., “Cybersecurity: Protecting Critical Infrastructures from Cyber Attack and Cyber Warfare”, CRC Press, 2015.
[2] [5] [6] Shoemaker, Dan and Conklin, Wm., “Cybersecurity: The Essential Body of Knowledge,” Cengage Learning, 2011.
[3] [4] Mowbray, Thomas J., “Cybersecurity: Managing Systems, Conducting Testing, and Investigating Intrusions,” John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
