An Introduction
So, what is cybersecurity anyway, and why do you need it?
According to Cisco Systems, it is the convergence of people, processes, and technology that combine to protect organizations, individuals, or networks from digital attacks. Okay, what does that mean in plain English?
Simplistically, malware is a digital virus. And there are a wide variety of them, behaving similarly to biological ones. They infect and spread, some target specific areas of online spaces, others provide access to one’s information or allow control over processes. And just like when you get sick and go to the doctor, cybersecurity provides the same service. It is a digital doctor.
Most biological viruses do not respond to medicine due to the nature of their structure. So how do you prevent their spread? Vaccines. Anti-malware software is comparable to a vaccine. But sometimes people get sick anyway, right? Sometimes the software doesn’t catch everything, or hasn’t been updated (like a booster shot). And new forms of malware are being produced every day. The ‘doctor’ is still necessary.
Every action taken on a computer leaves a log of itself. These logs are traceable. My work as a triage analyst is just that, tracking logs to determine What Happened, If Anything. I often describe this work as finding a needle in a haystack, or assembling a puzzle without knowing what the picture on the box is. I have tools that help me narrow down the field, because logs are vast. Every single communication between machines or networks is there, whether they succeed in connecting or not.
Sometimes it’s merely user error, because we are human and typos happen. Computers and indeed all digital devices, for all their sophistication and complexity, are literal and require unambiguous commands bound by set parameters. If/then. As an example: if you put in your login or password wrong, then you won’t be allowed into whatever you’re trying to access.
Sometimes what I find is more malicious. Hacking, phishing, unauthorized executables, distributed denial-of-service (DDOS), these and more are possibilities that can occur because a system was not sufficiently protected against them. Or someone clicked a link without knowing where it went, or downloaded something because it seemed legitimate. User error is not confined to typos. Scams are rampant and getting more clever all the time.
In the future, this series will break down and explain the various types of current and/or concerning malware being utilized out there in cyberspace. The aim is to post daily at least, more than once if necessary. And if you have questions? Your friendly neighborhood WISP is here to help.
Posted to LinkedIn 8/20/25
