Today, cyber security finds a place in almost all major companies and stakeholders’ hindsight. But in the early days, the concept of cyber security was very vague.
It was not until many years later that the development of cyber security was taken seriously due to the frequent occurrence of cyber-attacks and threats from dangerous entities. The development of these measures became the evolution of cyber security.
Cyber Security in the Beginning (1960-80)
The 1960s marked the starting phase of computers and networking. These devices were very large and very costly. cyber security areas were largely only physical, which was to protect the hardware from damage or illegal access.
The ‘70s and ‘80s saw the rise of personal computers, making this technology accessible to all. But this was not all. A new computer virus program was observed, with early examples like the "Creeper" virus which was seen back in 1974.
In 1975, we saw the Rabbit Virus, followed by the Trojan virus in 1976. By the 1980s, many more viruses were observed, like the Brain boot which was developed in Pakistan.
While still in its early stages, the concept of modern cyber security was being laid. Many individuals and organizations began to recognize the importance of protecting digital assets.
Rise of Cyber Crimes (1990-2000)
The '90s was the beginning of the Internet. With this, many other technologies were also brought to the market, and we saw a network evolution.
With the internet, many more problems were observed, including online attacks like Credit card frauds, bank account hacks, and many more. This was seen as the rise of the computer Virus, a program used to disrupt the working of a system.
In 1992, we saw the Michelangelo virus, which was a time-bomb virus. It was deployed to delete the information stored on hard drives.
Online Services and Threats (2000-10)
The early 2000s marked a turning point for cyber security. As online activities increased with e-commerce and online banking, so did cyber threats. Identity theft and phishing scams have become more and more frequent. This made users fall prey to such attacks.
The decade witnessed a series of high-profile cyberattacks, such as the SQL Slammer worm in 2003, which caused widespread internet disruptions. Social media was just brought into the market, with sites like Orkut and Facebook having a large number of users. As the user data was raw and social platforms were still in their developing phase, the evolution of cyber security became crucial for all.
Steps Towards Cyber Security (2010-20)
In 2014, the U.S. government created a plan to help important businesses and organizations protect themselves from cyberattacks. This plan came about because the government was worried about hackers causing problems. Observing this, many other governments initiated similar plans, leading to major agencies gaining prominence. Some of these organizations include the CIA, RAW, KGB, and many more.
The main steps identified to prevent cyber attacks and online threats were listed, which are given as follows −
- Identify weaknesses
- Protect important information and data
- Find problems early and identify the solutions
- Fix these problems quickly and efficiently
- Recover from attacks as soon as possible.
The goal is for everyone to use this plan to make the internet and cyberspace a better and safer place for all users worldwide.
The Age of Cyber Wars (2020 onwards)
The decade of 2020 has shown a major increase in cyberattacks. These attacks increased a lot, and this created problems for businesses and government agencies in dealing with hackers.
The COVID-19 pandemic further led to a digital transition, which made organizations quickly shift to remote work and cloud-based services. Supply chain attacks like the Apple Cloud breach showed how these attacks can cause a lot of harm digitally.
Additionally, the rise of Cryptocurrency from the year 2017 caused large-scale cybercrimes, with hackers demanding payment in digital currencies like Bitcoins, Dogecoins, and many more. As time passed, terror-sponsored cyber-attacks became advanced, targeting businesses and governments worldwide.
Cyber Security Case Study: Intel Corp.
The following section briefly enlightens some of the initial steps taken by Intel Corp towards cyber security measures −
- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security uses a risk assessment method created by Intel.
- Intel's method helps decide which security problems are most important.
- It focuses on the biggest risks to a system.
- Intel made a list of common threats to help find possible attacks.
- This method measures how dangerous current threats are.
- It identifies threats that are worse than normal.
- The method tries to understand what attackers want and how they might attack.
- By knowing where the system is weakest, it helps focus on fixing the biggest problems first.
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