The response must be 200 words and use at least 2 scholarly citation(s) in APA format. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include texts, articles, presentations, the Bible, blogs, videos, etc.
Textbook:
Johnson, T. A. (2015). Cybersecurity: Protecting critical infrastructures from cyber attack and cyber warfare.Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN: 9781482239225.
Pichtel, J. (2016). Terrorism and WMDs (2nd ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. ISBN: 9781498738989.
***COURTNEY**
Cost of Cybersecurity
When researching the cost of cybersecurity, it is important to discuss the cost of cyberattacks. Concerning cyberattacks, while the specific cost of a single cyberattack cannot be determined, the annual costs of cybercrimes is increasing. In 2020, the annual cost of cyberattacks was more than one trillion dollars (Haislip et al., 2019). A majority of cybercrimes occur in the business sector. One example of a company who experienced a cyberattack was Amazon. Earlier this year, Amazon was targeted with a DDOS attack that cost the company 75 million dollars (Leszczyna, 2019). Overall, small companies, between one and 49 employees, lost an average of $24,000 and enterprise-level companies, over 1,000 employees, lost an average of $504,000 each in 2020 (Haislip et al., 2019).
Cybersecurity also cost companies millions of dollars annually. On average, companies will spend between six and 14 percent of their annual IT budget on cybersecurity (Haislip et al., 2019). According to Leszczyna (2019), by 2022, the total spending on cybersecurity within the United States is projected to reach more than 125 billion, which is a 15 percent increase from 2020. The overall cost of cybersecurity will also increase worldwide. By 2025, it is suspected that cybersecurity will cost the world 10.5 trillion annually (Leszczyna, 2019). However, the cost of cybersecurity goes beyond monetary value. For example, a company who experiences a cyberattack might lose employees, lose customers, lose brand value/reputation, and high legal costs.
Threat Landscape
The threat landscape is the entirety of potential and identified cyberthreats affecting a particular sector or group. One threat within cybersecurity is social engineering. Social engineering is a cybersecurity threat that takes advantage of the weakest link in our security chain to gain access to corporate networks (Choo, 2016). Examples of social engineering attacks include phishing, pretexting, baiting, and quid pro quo. Another threat within cybersecurity is the threats of the next generation. The threat landscape will continue to evolve as cybercriminals find new ways to outsmart cybersecurity systems or exploit new vulnerabilities (Choo, 2016). Therefore, to be better able to detect cyberattacks, individuals need to be aware of the transformational changes within security.
Transformational Changes
Different changes have occurred within cybersecurity. The first change is virtualization. Virtualized security, or security virtualization, refers to security solutions that are software-based and designed to work within a virtualized IT environment (Choo, 2016). The second change is social media. Social media has become a prime target for cyber-crime (Czosseck et al., 2016). The third change is the internet of things. The internet of things security is the technology segment focused on safeguarding connected devices and networks (Czosseck et al., 2016). The last change within cybersecurity is big data. Big data analytics refers to the process of analyzing or assessing large, varied volumes of data that is often unexploited by regular analytics programs (Czosseck et al., 2016). According to Choo (2016) by combining big data analytics and machine learning, businesses are now able to perform a thorough analysis of past and existing data and identify what’s “normal.” Based on the results, they then use machine learning to strengthen their cybersecurity parameters, which will better detect cybersecurity threats.
Biblical Worldview
Cybersecurity is in place to protect one individual’s or organization’s property from being stolen. One Bible verse on stealing states, “You shall not steal” (King James Bible, 1796/2020, Exodus 20:15).
