Cybersecurity Beginner's Guide (eBook)

Understand the inner workings of cybersecurity and learn how experts keep us safe

Joshua Mason (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
350 Seiten
Packt Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-83620-746-7 (ISBN)

Infos

Unlock cybersecurity secrets and develop a hacker's mindset while building the high-demand skills used by elite hackers and defendersGet With Your Book: PDF Copy, AI Assistant, and Next-Gen Reader FreeKey FeaturesGain an insider's view of cybersecurity roles and the real work they do every dayMake informed career decisions with clear, practical insights into whether cybersecurity is right for youBuild essential skills that keep you safe online, regardless of your career pathBook DescriptionIn today s increasingly connected world, cybersecurity touches every aspect of our lives, yet it remains a mystery to most. This beginner s guide pulls back the curtain on how cybersecurity really works, revealing what professionals do to keep us safe. Learn how cyber threats emerge, how experts counter them, and what you can do to protect yourself online. Perfect for business leaders, tech enthusiasts, and anyone curious about digital security, this book delivers insider knowledge without the jargon. This edition also explores cybersecurity careers, AI/ML in cybersecurity, and essential skills that apply in both personal and professional contexts. Air Force pilot turned cybersecurity leader Joshua Mason shares hard-won insights from his unique journey, drawing on years of training teams and advising organizations worldwide. He walks you through the tools and strategies used by professionals, showing how expert practices translate into real-world protection. With up-to-date information of the latest threats and defenses, this cybersecurity book is both an informative read and a practical guide to staying secure in the digital age.What you will learnMaster the fundamentals of cybersecurity and why it's crucialGet acquainted with common cyber threats and how they are counteredDiscover how cybersecurity impacts everyday life and businessExplore cybersecurity tools and techniques used by professionalsSee cybersecurity in action through real-world cyber defense examplesNavigate Generative AI confidently and develop awareness of its security implications and opportunitiesUnderstand how people and technology work together to protect digital assetsImplement simple steps to strengthen your personal online securityWho this book is forThis book is for curious minds who want to decode cybersecurity without the technical jargon. Whether you're a business leader making security decisions, a student exploring career options, a tech enthusiast seeking insider knowledge, or simply someone who wants to stay safe online, this book bridges the gap between complex concepts and practical understanding. No technical background needed just an interest in learning how to stay safe in an increasingly digital environment.]]>

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The Cybersecurity Landscape: A World of Hidden Dangers and Exciting Opportunities

Imagine waking up to find your bank account drained, your private emails leaked, or your company’s sensitive data held for ransom. In our hyper-connected world, these aren’t just plot points for a thriller—they’re real threats we face daily. Welcome to the world of cybersecurity, where digital guardians work tirelessly behind the scenes to protect our online lives. In this chapter, we’ll explore why cybersecurity matters, examine real-world cyberattacks, and introduce you to the unsung heroes who keep our digital world safe.

By the end of this chapter, you will have a profound respect for the real threats posed by cyberattacks and the heroic efforts of professionals in this space who combat those threats, allowing us to utilize technology safely.

We’re going to cover the following topics:

• Understanding why cybersecurity matters: The digital age and its vulnerabilities
• Notable cybersecurity events
• Meet the heroes: Cybersecurity professionals and their roles
• NIST NICE Framework: A baseline for discussion

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Understanding why cybersecurity matters

Information has always been a powerful tool—so powerful that entire civilizations have built their survival around controlling who gets access to it. From the beginning of human history, secrets have been guarded, and knowledge has been withheld to maintain power, protect communities, and advance society. Today, this struggle to protect and restrict access to information continues in the form of cybersecurity.

The eternal struggle to protect knowledge has been a constant theme throughout history. From the biblical story of Adam and Eve to the modern-day encryption methods used in cybersecurity, the desire to control and protect knowledge has shaped our societies and technologies.

Unveiling the ancient roots of cybersecurity

Let’s journey through time and across cultures to see how deeply rooted this concept of guarding knowledge is.

In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the knowledge of good and evil was hidden from Adam and Eve in the fruit of the forbidden tree. God’s desire to prevent access to this powerful information shows us that even at the dawn of humanity, there was an understanding that some knowledge needed to be protected for the good of all. We will revisit this story when discussing controls, incident response, and post-incident policy changes.

Across the Mediterranean, the ancient Greeks told the story of Zeus keeping the secret of fire on top of Mount Olympus, out of humanity’s reach. Prometheus, who crafted humans from the spit of Zeus and the soil of Gaia, stole fire from Olympus and delivered it to humans. This was a dangerous act in the eyes of Zeus because with fire came technology, creativity, and power, making humans too godlike, essentially giving them access to knowledge that they did not know how to handle. Zeus sentenced Prometheus to be chained to a rock and have his liver eaten by a hawk every day, healing every night, since he was a Titan, until the bird was destroyed by Heracles (or Hercules).

Prometheus’ theft of fire from the gods represents unauthorized access to powerful knowledge that can be misused. This can be compared to modern insider threats. In 2019, a former employee of Capital One used their inside knowledge to exploit a misconfiguration, leading to a data breach affecting over 100 million customers. Capital One claimed that their Vulnerability Disclosure Program (VDP) made them aware of an exploitable vulnerability in their system. While following up on this vulnerability, the Capital One team discovered that the vulnerability did lead to an attacker exploiting their system and stealing customer data.

In ancient China, the formula for silk production was one of the most closely guarded secrets for centuries. The Chinese monopoly on silk allowed them to control a vital part of the world’s economy. This “information advantage” is similar to how companies today keep their algorithms, processes, and intellectual property under lock and key, both physically and digitally, to maintain their competitive edge in the market.

Even the ancient Indian Vedas, sacred texts of spiritual and philosophical knowledge, were orally passed down only to select individuals who were deemed to have the proper understanding and capability to handle such powerful insights, preserving the integrity and authority of that knowledge.

As societies evolved, the need to protect information became a matter of national security. Think of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which emphasizes that knowledge of your enemy and yourself is critical to victory. The practice of espionage, from ancient dynasties to modern intelligence agencies, has always revolved around stealing or protecting knowledge. In medieval Islamic culture, scholars protected critical scientific and philosophical works using encryption, creating ciphers that guarded their intellectual property. This was one of the earliest uses of cryptography.

This continues throughout modern history: during World War II, the Navajo Code Talkers used their native language to encrypt US military communications, making it impossible for enemies to decipher their messages. At the same time, the Enigma machine, a German encryption device, was being used to secure military communications. The British effort to crack Enigma at Bletchley Park remains one of the most famous examples of how the ability to access or block information can alter the course of history.

These examples highlight a fundamental truth: the need to protect knowledge is not new. What has changed is the sheer scale of information and the sophisticated tools we employ to safeguard it. What once required codes, spies, and secret agents now demands firewalls, encryption algorithms, and cybersecurity professionals. While the methods and tools may have evolved from code-breaking machines and spies to encryption algorithms and cybersecurity teams, the underlying goal remains unchanged: to control access to information and protect it from those who misuse it.

Bridging the past to the digital present

As we move into the 20th century, the need to protect information becomes increasingly tied to...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.9.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Informatik ► Netzwerke ► Sicherheit / Firewall
• ISBN-10: 1-83620-746-8 / 1836207468
• ISBN-13: 978-1-83620-746-7 / 9781836207467