10 Most Common Types of Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is about safeguarding digital networks, devices, and data from unauthorized intrusions and unintentional breaches. It involves employing a combination of technologies, controls, and processes to mitigate risks and ensure the protection of sensitive information and systems. Cybersecurity encompasses various dimensions, including ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Below are the most notable types of cybersecurity, which may overlap in various ways.

1. Data Security
2. Application Security
3. Cloud Security
4. Endpoint Security
5. Critical Infrastructure Security
6. IoT (Internet of Things) Security
7. Mobile Security
8. Operational Security
9. Network Security
10. Zero Trust

1. Data Security

Data security employs a combination of cybersecurity solutions to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of digital assets. Confidentiality ensures that only authorized individuals have access to data, preventing unauthorized parties from gaining sensitive information. Integrity refers to preserving the accuracy and completeness of data, ensuring it has not been altered or corrupted. Lastly, availability guarantees that authorized individuals can access data whenever required, ensuring uninterrupted access to essential information. Data security applies to data at rest (stored data) and in motion (data being transmitted), providing comprehensive protection across various stages of its lifecycle.

2. Application Security

Application security plays a crucial role in safeguarding applications, protecting connected data from unauthorized access and usage. It involves using cybersecurity solutions to pinpoint flaws in design and development phases that could be exploited. Timely alerts enable teams to promptly resolve these flaws before vulnerabilities arise. Additionally, application/API security offers protection against vulnerabilities that may slip through the cracks, providing an additional layer of defense.

3. Cloud Security

It should come as no surprise that an increasing number of organizations are moving business operations to the cloud. Cloud security focuses on protecting cloud-based assets and services, including applications, data, and infrastructure. While cloud providers often offer security solutions, they may be inadequate for enterprise-grade security, necessitating supplementary third-party solutions to protect against data breaches and targeted attacks in cloud environments.

In a shared responsibility model, cloud service providers are responsible for managing various cybersecurity functions, including availability, database and storage security, edge location security, encryption of cloud data, infrastructure security, and networking security. Organizations, on the other hand, manage different cybersecurity functions such as application security, data protection, identity and access management, network traffic encryption, operating system security, and client-side encryption.

4. Endpoint Security

Cyberattacks frequently target devices like desktops, laptops, mobile gadgets, servers, and other endpoints as their entry point. Endpoint security measures serve as a shield for these devices and the sensitive data they hold. Endpoint security may include data and network security controls, advanced threat prevention measures like anti-phishing and anti-ransomware, and technologies that provide forensic capabilities, such as endpoint detection and response (EDR) solutions.

5. Critical Infrastructure Security

Critical infrastructure organizations leverage many similar cybersecurity measures as other subcategories, albeit often deployed differently. These organizations have faced increased vulnerability to cyberattacks targeting legacy systems, such as SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems, highlighting the need for robust protection strategies.

6. IoT (Internet of Things) Security

The advent of IoT devices has brought about significant productivity enhancements, but it has also opened the door to cyber threats. This has led to the emergence of IoT security, a comprehensive approach aimed at minimizing the vulnerabilities associated with IoT devices in organizations. IoT security employs sophisticated techniques to detect and classify vulnerabilities, ensuring a proactive stance against potential threats. Secondly, it uses segmentation techniques to limit the network exposure of IoT devices, thereby reducing the attack surface. Additionally, IoT security addresses threats stemming from unpatched firmware and other flaws by leveraging IPS (Intrusion Prevention Systems), preventing exploitation attempts.

7. Mobile Security

Mobile security, as you might have guessed, is specifically designed to protect mobile devices like phones, tablets, and laptops from unauthorized access and potential vulnerabilities that could serve as entry points for attacks. Since mobile devices can access corporate data, businesses are exposed to threats from malicious actors. Mobile security measures can prevent these attacks by securing operating systems and devices from rooting and jailbreaking, and by integrating with Mobile Device Management (MDM) solutions to ensure only compliant mobile devices can access corporate assets.

8. Operational Security

Operational security (OPSEC) encompasses various cybersecurity processes and technology, acting as a shield to protect critical assets. It establishes well-defined protocols for access, ensuring that only authorized personnel have the necessary credentials to enter protected systems. Additionally, OPSEC actively monitors for any unusual behavior or patterns that may indicate malicious activity, allowing defenders to respond swiftly to potential security breaches or attacks. Through its multifaceted approach, OPSEC plays a vital role in maintaining the integrity, confidentiality, and availability of sensitive information, mitigating risks, and ensuring the overall security of organizations’ systems and data.

9. Network Security

Network security entails implementing software and hardware solutions to shield networks from unauthorized access and service interruptions. This involves monitoring and responding to risks affecting network software (operating systems and protocols) and hardware (servers, clients, hubs, switches, bridges, peers, and connecting devices). Network security solutions protect against attacks by detecting and blocking them. Data and access controls including DLP (Data loss Prevention), IAM (identity and Access Management), NAC (Network Access Control), and NGFW (Next-Generation Firewalls) ensure data confidentiality and prevent unauthorized access. Application controls enforce safe web use policies. Advanced network threat technology such as IPS (Intrusion Prevention System), NGAV (Next-Gen Antivirus), Sandboxing, and CDR (Content Disarm and Reconstitution) provide multilayered protection and prevent sophisticated attacks. Network analytics, threat Hunting, and automated SOAR (Security Orchestration and Response) technologies enhance security by analyzing network traffic, proactively detecting threats, and automating security operations. These elements collectively provide a holistic defense against both traditional and advanced network-based attacks.

10. Zero Trust

Traditional perimeter-focused security measures are proving inadequate in the face of evolving threats and the dynamic nature of modern networks. Zero trust offers a refreshing alternative, eliminating the traditional perimeters in favor of continuous verification and access control. This vigilant approach demands constant validation of users’ identities, adhering to the PoLP where access is granted only for specific, necessary tasks. Microsegmentation plays a crucial role, fragmenting networks into isolated segments to impede lateral movement of malicious actors. Zero trust’s unwavering principle is to distrust all users by default, eradicating the assumption of inherent trustworthiness. This contrasts starkly with the traditional security model, which focused on erecting walls around valuable assets, leaving them vulnerable to insider threats and the rapidly dissolving network perimeter. The era of cloud adoption and remote work necessitates a new approach to security, one that is granular and resource-centric.

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