The Role of Cyber Security in Information Technology Education
Information technology or briefly IT is one of the most popular academic disciplines chosen by thousands of students from all around the world. It has bright perspectives for career promotion, high salaries, and personal growth. One of the most vital branches of IT education is definitely cybersecurity. Institutions of higher education have a huge demand for specialists in this important specialty.
The main role of cybersecurity is to protect users from data corruption and decoding each time they access the Internet. The US Public sector has registered 30,000 qualified and certified cyber-security specialists. They serve to ensure the dependable protection of personal data of websites and individual online users. The need is ever-growing because different hackers and viruses try to break through the firewalls to fulfill their illegal goals. IT education requires real professionals who are able to prevent potential attacks and recover the corrupted and infected files.
Information Technology and a Good Example
Some people mess up cybersecurity and information technology security. Therefore, we’d like to introduce the difference between these two notions. Cyber technology is the set of measures necessary to protect digital gadgets that access the Internet from different viruses, malicious programs, and hackers. IT security is a complex of protective measurements against cyberattacks of data, which exists in digital and paper formats. Therefore, IT security is a bit broader than cybersecurity. The latter belongs to cyber protection only to protect data, which exists in the digital format. Get your Cyber Security Certification today to know more about cybersecurity and become certified.
To understand this issue better, you may need an appropriate example. Many students use the assistance of special academic paper writing websites. A lot of certified expert writers recommend using a legitimate and professional essay writing company Custom Writings which never gives broken promises. It fulfills assignments exactly as required without any delays. Let’s imagine that you access this website to place an order.
When you fill out the order form, you have to leave some personal data about yourself. Commonly, these are your user’s name, email address and the type of gadget you use to connect to the website. If the website has some breaches in its cyber defense, other people may learn those facts about you and use it for their own illegal purposes. Therefore, each time you access the Internet you expose your personal information to hackers. It’s of huge importance to undertake protective measures. This is what cybersecurity serves for.
Types of Hackers
There are multiple malicious programs and viruses similar to trojans, worms, etc. Nevertheless, they are not the greatest digital threat. They all were designed by people who are called hackers. They break through the firewalls, spoil the operational systems, corrupt and steal data, and fulfill other harmful and illegal actions. However, not all of them are so nasty and eager to promote damage. Therefore, it’s necessary to recognize types of hackers. Cybersecurity unites train specific hackers and provides them information technology education.
The division of hackers is made by coloring them. Each type has its special color and meaning. There are white, black, gray and others. Let’s try to understand what they do.
- White. These are authorized and official specialists. They have permission to attack the system of cyber protection of concrete websites. Their owners employ white hackers because the latter can say how vulnerable the software of the website is.
- Black. They access websites without permission and crack the system. They steal/destroy data and/or damage the functioning of the website.
- Gray. This type is something in the middle between white and black hackers. Commonly, they break through the firewalls just to show what they’re capable of and don’t damage the system.
- Red. They are trained to attack black hackers and so, keep them at bay. They may be called cyber-police.
- Blue. Non-professional hackers who commonly assault people who somehow abused them in order to avenge.
- Green. Amateurs who require the help of black hackers to become professional crackers.
- State/nation sponsored. Sponsored by the State or Nation to make the national websites highly protective to avoid any danger for national safety.
- Script kiddies. Unskilled hackers who use scripts and/or downloads tools, which are provided by other hackers to crack websites. Commonly, they simply want to impress their friends.
- Malicious insiders/whistleblowers. These hackers are workers of an enterprise or government agency. They are usually hired to detect some possible illegal actions of the company/organization.
White, red and state/nation hackers and malicious insiders/whistleblowers are official jobs. They are required by individuals, enterprises, and governments. Therefore, their role in IT education is really huge.
Information technology education has a great need for hackers. They ensure cybersecurity, prevent and predict potential attacks, detect weak places, and tell how to improve the protective software. This branch of IT education is on the rise and seems to remain in demand for many years ahead.
