Ask managers of large companies what their biggest concern is at the moment and chances are that information security is among them.
Not for nothing, after all, there is business-related data whose value is so high that it is difficult to measure.
These are issues related to the business model or its operation that, if exposed, can cause huge losses, perhaps even making its continuity unfeasible.
Add to this financial information, such as bank account data, yours and your customers’, to get a real sense of the danger you live with on a daily basis.
How terrible would it be to have data hijacked, wrongfully accessed by cybercriminals, and blocked for your own handling?
It is worth pointing out that this is just one of the types of scams that multiply in the virtual environment.
Minimizing the risk is, therefore, a question of the first order, which goes far beyond the installation of a powerful antivirus system on the internal computer network.
When it comes to information security, the efforts must be made by the organization as a whole.
As a new culture to be implemented, everyone needs to participate, at whatever level they belong in the company.
In this article, we will deepen the study on the concept, talk about its importance, the role of professionals specialized in information security, and present facts that reinforce the urgency of the theme.
You will also check the 5 pillars of information security and get to know practical actions to make it the order of the day in the business.
We are talking about fundamental knowledge for the qualification of managers and administrators.
Then be sure to keep reading for the following topics:
- What is information security?
- What does an information security professional do?
- What is the importance of information security?
- 5 pillars of information security
- What is non-repudiation in information security?
- What is confidentiality, integrity, and availability?
- What is a security mechanism?
- The differences between IT security and information security
- Internet intrusions with examples.
What is information security? (concepts)
Information security is the protection of organizations’ proprietary data against various threats. It is an effort guided by actions that aim to mitigate risks and ensure the continuity of operations.
In fact, it is a very broad concept, but one that we can understand more clearly by dividing it into two parts:
- Information: content of value to a company or professional
- Security: the perception of protection against dangers, threats, and uncertainties.
The goal of information security, therefore, is to guarantee the owner of this content the feeling that nothing bad will happen to it.
To this end, it is based on five pillars (which we will talk about later), and its actions are capable of extending protection to the content, but do not guarantee absolute security.
This means that, even if the information is stored for restricted use, there will always be a risk.
It is up to professionals in the area, then, to work to keep it as small as possible, using constantly updated techniques, tactics and tools – which works as a proportional response to the existing advances also in the actions promoted by cybercriminals.
It is also worth clarifying that the concept of information is as broad as possible, since it can include financial, banking, project, service or intellectual property data, among others, belonging to or owned by the company.
A good example is that of accounting firms.
In this type of company, besides your information, there is all kinds of client content, such as your billing data, including revenues and expenses, as well as fiscal and tax data, such as invoices, receipts and tax returns, and banking data, especially if the office does your financial and accounts payable and receivable management.
Notice in this example the enormous amount of information that needs to be kept out of the wrong hands.
What does an information security professional do?
As we have seen, the exposure of valuable content to risks, especially virtual ones, is daily.
In response, what organizations do is create solutions and hire professionals to minimize threats.
This is exactly what those who choose this career path do.
As sheriffs of the digital age, they monitor risks and design responses to them, in order to prevent the criminal appropriation of sensitive data for use in various frauds and scams.
They are preventive when their solutions prove to be effective in safeguarding the integrity of data.
At the same time, they act as “fire fighters” in emergency situations, seeking to reduce losses and stop the undue exposure of the content as soon as possible.
