Hlsc710-discussion 1-reply2 | HLSC 710 – Contemporary Issues in Cyber Security and WMD (CBRNE) Threat Analysis | Liberty University

Contemporary Issues in Cyber Security

The response must be 200 words    Cyber Security 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.

DENNIS

Cyber security is becoming increasingly important in today’s society with the mass integration of so many integral systems onto the World Wide Web. There are systems that keep individuals’ medical data, banking systems that are completely connected globally, and even social media that is internet-based but keeps the privacy of millions of people. With the increasing need for internet capabilities in almost all spectrums, so comes the need for top-notch security to protect all of that information. Even the top-secret systems that are used by the military and intelligence agencies are interconnected on their own web-based services to allow for communication and dissemination of appropriate information. Cyber security has to deal with a myriad of different types of attacks that could happen at a moment’s notice. It is difficult to tell if a cyber security system is good because it is only as effective as the number of successful deterrents to attacks. However, a cyber security system would be considered a failure simply with one successful attack on the system it is trying to protect.

Botnets are a type of attack that is discussed by Johnson (2015), and is referred to as “a network of compromised computers that can be coordinated remotely by a cyber-criminal or an attacker to achieve an intended and malicious purpose” (p. 15-16). It is not always malicious but is used by hackers to infiltrate and withdraw information. One of the more common botnet attacks is called a distributed denial-of-service attack or DDoS attack. The point of this type of attack is to overwhelm a system with massive amounts of data and cause that system to shut down or become ineffective. A DDoS attack is seen as one of the most powerful attacks that can happen because it can happen at any time and can shut down a system, causing financial losses due to outages and even creating political disruptions, according to Cook (2021).

The top three cyber threats that face the US today, according to the ICAEW Business Advice Service (2021) would be ransomware, phishing, and data leakage. It is interesting to note that with all of the attacks that happen on the cyber side of things, one of the top three risks still has to do with human error and data leakage. I believe that the most significant change that has occurred in the realm of cyber security is just what I mentioned at the start, that full integration of every detail of a human’s life and privacy is woven into the fibers of the internet. With all of this information available online, cyber security becomes that much more important to protect every person’s privacy. The most significant threat we will face in the future has to be sheer data load. There is a show on HBO called Silicon Valley, and they have many mishaps and comedic values, but they focus on a real issue also: cyber security. It is so difficult to imagine the amount of data that is floating around on the internet now, and that amount increases exponentially daily. There is simply not enough servers to handle all of the data, therefore it is becoming a crisis that will have to be solved by the “cloud”. This, however, opens up the entire realm of the internet to attacks that could cause the loss of entire chunks of data, like banking information or stock market purchases or sales. If proper cyber security is not practiced, the entire financial market could be shut down by one attack.

In 1 Peter 5:8, the Bible talks about being vigilant because our adversary is walking around seeking whom he may devour. A Christian’s adversary is the devil, and he, like a well-trained hacker, is simply looking for an opening in our lives to get on the inside and destroy us. We must remain vigilant and trust the Lord to protect us from those attacks.