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What is Information Security?

Information security is the process of ensuring that information is kept safe from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. It’s a vital part of any organization’s infrastructure that deals with sensitive data. It’s also a key service for individuals who want to protect their personal information. It is the act of protecting data and information. It’s a broad term that can encompass anything from encrypting a file to protecting your personal information online.

Read more on Information Security Vs Cyber Security.

Information Security Definition

Information security is the practice of protecting information in order to prevent unauthorized access, use, and disclosure. It involves implementing policies and procedures that are designed to safeguard information and help prevent data loss or theft.

Information security is the protection of data and information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction.

Information security is a major concern for individuals and organizations. The amount of sensitive data that needs to be protected has increased dramatically in recent years. This can include personal information such as social security numbers, medical information and financial data.

In addition to protecting this kind of data, organizations also need to protect proprietary information such as trade secrets, financial information and new product development plans.

An Information security policy is important because it protects your privacy, which is valuable in and of itself. But in today’s world, it also protects things like your finances, your relationships with friends and family members—even your ability to get a job or rent an apartment!

Why is information security important?

Information security is important because it helps you protect your data, which is valuable and sensitive. There are many ways you can protect your data, such as encrypting it or storing it in a secure location. It can help you to protect your personal information, and keep your data safe.

For example, if someone steals your credit card number or other financial information, they can use that information to make purchases on your behalf. If they use the money to buy something expensive such as a car or house, then it may take you years to pay back what’s owed on those purchases with interest added in. This might affect your credit score and ability to get loans in the future!

Another reason why information security is important is because it helps prevent hackers from accessing your accounts online so that no one else can see what you’re doing online. This can include things like checking email or banking online—you don’t want anyone else snooping into those things! 

Lastly (and most importantly), information security can keep us safe from identity theft. Identity theft happens when someone steals another person’s identity by pretending they’re them online—this could mean stealing their credit card number or other personal information so they can make purchases under their name without authorization!

How does information security help you?

In order for information security to help you, you need to have something that needs protecting. If you have personal information about others or company secrets, then this is something that will benefit from being protected.

Which types of information are worth protecting?

Information is power.

If you have information that could be used to manipulate other people, then it’s worth protecting. But how do you know what information is worth protecting?

The first step is to identify the type of information that’s being shared. There are two main types: private and public. Private information includes the following:

  • Financial records
  • Employee or customer data
  • Your computer systems and databases (e.g., preventing ransomware attacks)
  • Your employees’ email accounts (e.g., stopping phishing attempts)
  • Your company’s intellectual property (e.g., ensuring that employees don’t leak trade secrets)
  • Public information includes the following:
  • News about a company or organization
  • Information about products or services (including pricing)
  • Corporate credentials 
  • Banking information
  • Passwords

How to secure your information? : Methods for Information Security

Data Encryption

Data encryption is a process of encoding or scrambling data so that it is unreadable to anyone who does not have the key to decrypt it. Data encryption provides confidentiality and integrity, and sometimes authentication, by transforming data into an unreadable format.

The most common use for data encryption is for the protection of sensitive information against unauthorized access or modification.

Data encryption can be used to protect any kind of data and for any purpose. However, the most common applications are: confidentiality (hiding content), integrity (protecting against modification), authentication (establishing identity), non-repudiation (preventing repudiation / proving authenticity). 

Email Authentication

Email authentication is a process that confirms the authenticity of an email message. It’s a safeguard against phishing and spoofing, in which criminals impersonate companies or individuals to trick people into clicking links and giving up their personal information.

Email authentication makes use of DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) and/or Sender Policy Framework (SPF). These protocols allow a domain owner to add a digital signature to an email message so that recipients can verify that the message comes from an authorized source. 

Finally, you can use DMARC to tell your email provider what to do when they receive emails from other domains that don’t meet your standards for authenticity or legitimacy. For example, if some spammer starts sending emails from your domain name without your permission, you can use DMARC to tell your provider not to accept them as legitimate emails coming from your domain.

Cyber Insurance

Cyber insurance is a type of insurance that covers businesses that have been the victim of a cyber-attack. Cyber insurance is usually purchased as an add-on to general business insurance policies and covers losses caused by hacking, malware, ransomware and other forms of cyber crime. The policy will also cover any third-party losses arising from these events, such as the cost of investigating the incident and restoring systems back to normal operation.

Read more on Cyber insurance and DMARC.

Firewall

A firewall is a security software that protects your computer from external attacks. It can be a hardware or software device, or it can be built into your computer’s operating system.

A firewall stops malicious content from entering your computer through the internet. This includes viruses, malware, and other harmful programs. A firewall also prevents unauthorized access to your computer from outside sources by blocking incoming requests to access your files or data.

Packet Filtering

Packet filtering is a method of network security in which the incoming and outgoing packets are analyzed and allowed or denied based on criteria. One of the most important factors to consider when implementing packet filtering is the location of the filter. 

If your packet filter is placed at a gateway, it will prevent traffic from entering or exiting your network through that specific point. If you have multiple gateways in your environment, you can set up different packet filters for each gateway to ensure that only the appropriate traffic is allowed through.

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Most Underrated Information Security Controls

Underrated Information security controls are the activities, procedures, and mechanisms that you put in place to protect yourself from cyber threats. Your information security controls can be something as simple as using a VPN to connect to your company’s network or something more complicated like encrypting your data with a key management system.

What is an Information Security Control?

Information security controls are the different ways you can protect your company’s data. They can be technical, physical, or administrative. They serve as a defense against outside threats and internal threats alike. 

You can think of information security controls like fences around a house. The fence keeps people out of your yard and protects your property from outside threats like thieves who want to steal your stuff or vandals who want to damage it. In this analogy, “your stuff” would be your data and its integrity. 

3 Major Categories of Information Security Controls

The best way to protect your data is to implement all three types of information security controls: 

  • Physical controls are things like locks on doors, strong firewalls, and cameras in offices.
  • Technical controls include encryption and software that monitors access to files on your computer or network. 
  • Administrative controls include policies like password expiration requirements, user education programs, and regular audits.
  • Compliance controls Which include information security standards, frameworks, and protocols

List of the Most Underrated Information Security Controls

Information Access Control

Information access control is the process of controlling access to information by authorized personnel. It can be used to protect sensitive and confidential data, as well as protect against identity theft and unauthorized disclosure of information.

Information access control is typically implemented using a combination of hardware and software solutions. One type of hardware solution is called perimeter security, which involves placing physical barriers between an organization’s network and the Internet. This can include firewalls, routers, and other devices that are designed to prevent unauthorized access from outside sources.

2. Multifactor Authentication 

Multifactor authentication (MFA) is a method of confirming your identity when logging in to a computer or web application. It’s an extra layer of security that provides greater protection against unauthorized access. It uses at least two of the following three elements:

  • Something you know (like a password)
  • Something you have (like a physical device)
  • Something you are (like biometrics like your fingerprint, voice, or facial features)

3. Email Authentication 

Email authentication is a process that ensures that the sender of an email is who they say they are. It’s a way to verify that emails aren’t being sent by someone pretending to be from your company or organization.

You can set up email authentication for your domain name in two ways: Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM). After you have set up protocols to verify the authority of your email senders, you need a way to instruct email receivers how to respond to emails failing these checks. This is where a DMARC policy comes into use. You can configure a suitable policy to reject, quarantine, or accept the messages depending on their authentication status. 

4. Information Security Training Programs 

Information security training programs are a great way to help your employees prevent security breaches. They can also be used to give employees the tools they need to handle potential breaches and keep them from happening again.

These types of training programs are not just for IT professionals—they’re for everyone in your organization. All employees should take part in information security training programs because they’re so important for keeping your company’s data safe and secure.

Conclusion

The term “information security” refers to the protection of data in any form. This includes physical protection of data storage devices like hard drives or flash drives as well as digital protection through encryption and other methods of securing data from unauthorized access. Having an effective information security policy in place can help you evade security breaches that can damage your brand’s reputation and credibility in the long term. 

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Information Security vs Cyber Security: How are they mutually exclusive?

Information Security and Cyber Security are two separate fields, but with way too much overlap there to create confusion in understanding the concepts of each. This post takes a deep dive into an overview of information security vs cyber security so that you can make an informed decision regarding your knowledge and levels of protection for your private or public sector organization.

What is Information Security?

Information Security (also known as InfoSec) is the process of protecting information assets from unauthorized access, use, modification, disclosure, and destruction. It encompasses all facets of protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the information.

The purpose of information security is to help organizations protect their intellectual property, customer data, trade secrets, proprietary information, and other assets–such as resources of value–from being accessed, used, or disclosed by unauthorized parties with malicious intent.

In today’s tech-driven world, where people are constantly sharing information online via email, social media accounts, and more, companies must implement strong information security programs so that they can protect their data and prevent it from being hacked. Therefore, mitigating the risk of losing customers and brand integrity.

Information security can be achieved through the use of security measures like encryption keys, access control and email authentication.

For example, a company may have an online store that sells its products, but it needs to protect the data that identifies customers and their orders. The company’s information security measures include encrypting all of its transmitted information, developing and enforcing policies around password use and file sharing, and monitoring all access to network resources.

What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security is the process of protecting networks, systems, and data from unauthorized access, modification, and destruction. It is an umbrella term for a group of related technologies and disciplines that help to prevent unauthorized access to networks, systems, and data.

Cybersecurity can be broken down into three main categories; risk analysis, detection and response, and protection.

  • Risk analysis involves identifying potential risks to your organization’s networks and systems so you can prioritize where to spend your cybersecurity budget.
  • Detection involves monitoring activity on your network to detect any unauthorized activity or activity that might indicate a breach has occurred.
  • Protection involves protecting your information systems from being attacked by hackers using various methods such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems (IDSs).

For organizations to be successful in an increasingly digital world, they must ensure that their cyber security practices are robust enough to prevent, identify, and respond to cyber threats to maintain the security of data and networks.

Cyber security can also help prevent corporate espionage in other ways. For example, if someone inside your company tries to access another employee’s account on your network, they will be blocked by the firewall until they have been authenticated and authorized by the proper authorities.

Information Security vs Cyber Security: The Differences

Information security and cyber security are two distinct fields of information technology that complement each other.

These two disciplines often overlap in their practice as technologies evolve but each should be given consideration individually for its purpose or applications.

Let’s read how they differ from one another in the Information Security vs Cyber Security comparison shared below:

Protection Parameters

Cyber security protects cyberspace from threats, while information security is the protection of overall data from threats.

Cyber security focuses on the protection of networks, devices, and systems against cyber attacks. It also aims to protect individuals against identity theft, fraud, and other online crimes. Cyber security is concerned with protecting users’ privacy through encryption in their communications and data. This means that cyber security does not protect companies’ intellectual property or provide for employee privacy.

Information security focuses on protecting organizations’ data from unauthorized access by employees or outsiders. It is concerned with ensuring that confidential information is stored securely without falling into the hands of third parties who could use it inappropriately or even cause harm to its owner. Information security can be divided into three categories: physical (e.g., locking away documents), logical (e.g., encrypting sensitive data), and administrative controls (e.g., changing passwords periodically).

A good way to think about these two approaches is to consider how they relate to each other in terms of risks. Cybersecurity focuses on risk management and controls that are used to prevent harm from occurring within cyberspace; whereas information security focuses on risk management and controls for managing threats to individual systems (or organizations).

Security Scope

Cyber security is the process of protecting information in cyberspace. It deals with protecting the data or information that resides in a computer system or network from being compromised by hackers, viruses, and other malicious software. Since cybercrime is a global threat, businesses often choose cyber security localization to strengthen the security of their web properties.

Information security on the other hand is the broader umbrella term that includes all of the techniques used to protect information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, or destruction in any form. It protects data and information regardless of whether they are stored on a hard drive in an office building, or on an external server in another country.

The key takeaway here is that Cyber Security provides defense mechanisms within the cyber realm only while Information Security looks at protecting data regardless of where it resides or how it is used (i.e., at home or in business).

Threat Shielding

Cybersecurity is concerned with the protection of computer networks and technologies from cyberattacks, cyberterrorism, and other kinds of attacks that use computers or networks as their means. On the other hand, information security focuses on protecting data in whatever format it’s stored.

For example, if you’re trying to protect your email messages from being stolen by hackers, you’re dealing with cybersecurity. If you’re trying to protect your family’s health records from getting into the wrong hands, you’re dealing with information security.

Therefore…

Cybersecurity deals with those threats in cyberspace—those that occur when you’re using your computer or mobile device, or even when you’re connected to the Internet. Information security deals with any form of threat related to the protection of any sort of data—whether it’s physical data like financial records or other types of information like email accounts.

Combat Approach

Cybersecurity refers to the technology that protects information systems from cyber-attacks. Information security refers to the techniques that companies use to protect their data and systems from unauthorized access, disclosure of confidential information, or disruption by hackers.

➜ Cybersecurity combats:

Cybercrime – a broad term that describes any illegal activity that happens online. Some cybercrimes include hacking, phishing, identity theft, and other crimes.

Cyber fraud – a digital scam committed through the internet or email, e.g credit card fraud (where someone steals your credit card information and uses it to make purchases online.)

➜ Information security combats:

Unauthorized access – when a person or entity accesses information without authorization. An example of unauthorized access is someone who steals data on a server or network.

Disclosure modification – when an attacker intentionally modifies the data in such a way that it can be used against the original owner.

Disruption – the act of interfering with normal operations of a system to deny service to legitimate users, causing outages and delays in orders being fulfilled.

Therefore, the difference between information security and cyber security is like the difference between guarding a castle with a sword versus using a gun to defend it—both are necessary for keeping your castle safe, but one is more effective than the other depending on your circumstances. This makes both of them an important aspect of any organization’s overall protection strategy.

Defense Activation

Cybersecurity is the first line of defense against cyber threats. It’s what we call “the good guys” when they’re trying to prevent hackers from infiltrating your computer or stealing your personal information.

Information security is what happens when cyber security fails—when it is breached and malicious code gets past the firewall and into your system. Information security helps you prevent breaches and recover quickly from them so that you can continue to use your system without interruption.

Because cyber security deals with external threats, it’s often referred to as “outside-in” protection, while information security is more of an “inside-out” approach that focuses on both internal and external risks.

Information Security vs Cyber Security: The Overlaps

Information security and cybersecurity are two separate, but related, fields. It’s because they both focus on protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive information from unauthorized access or use.

There are some key overlapping concerns in this space:

  • both fields look at threats to data security that might come from any source (including human error)
  • both fields look at protecting data as it flows through networks or devices
  • both fields look at securing devices so that they’re not vulnerable to attack by hackers or other bad actors

To sum it up, information security provides the technological components needed to protect data while cyber-security provides a framework for how those technical components should be used by organizations that want their data protected from attackers.

Email Security as a Part of Information Security

A proper information security framework also incorporates email security since most information in a corporate setup is exchanged via emails. 

To secure your emails against spoofing and phishing threats, A DMARC analysis tool is imperative. Implement email authentication protocols at your organizations to safguard your email communications today!

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PowerDMARC Signs on Disti360 as Value-Added Distributor

PowerDMARC, an email authentication solutions provider headquartered in Delaware,  USA, is partnering with Dubai-based information security distribution company, Disti360. In June 2020, Disti360 the Hub of Virtual Distribution signed on to become a value-added distributor of PowerDMARC’s suite of email security and DMARC services. Primarily targeting businesses and organizations, their new partnership is set to bring the latest in email authentication technology to the mainstream.

“We’re extremely happy to be teaming up with Disti360,” said PowerDMARC Co-Founder & CEO Faisal Al Farsi. “The Middle East has relatively low DMARC adoption rates, leaving their email exposed to spoofing and impersonation attacks. It’s our job to build awareness among organizations and protect their brands’ reputation. With Disti360’s help, we can establish ourselves as the leading provider of DMARC solutions across several countries in the region.”

Disti360, hub of virtual distribution headquartered in Dubai, will be PowerDMARC’s first major distributor in the Middle East. With many new businesses and organizations forming all around the region, there’s a growing need for a proper solution that protects against malicious phishing scams.

Through distribution and hands-on support for PowerDMARC services, they plan on building strong channels in KSA, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Egypt. Crucially, they will be responsible for increasing the adoption of DMARC and robust email security practices across the Middle East.

“We’re excited to be among the first ones to offer fully-featured email security services to businesses in our region,” said Abdullah Abu-Hejleh, Founder & CEO of Disti360. “It’s a rare opportunity for us and our partners. Together with PowerDMARC, we can forge strong connections with organizations all across the Middle East, securing domains and making email and cyber safer for everyone.”

 

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