Welcome to the Bellevue University Cybersecurity Center Blog (a member of the Bellevue University blogging network). 

In this blog, you will hear a variety of perspectives on Cybersecurity from different voices.  The topics include its purpose, methods for security management, current threats and vulnerabilities, and Cybersecurity news. It’s our way of sharing with the students and community and spreading the word about protecting yourself in the cyber world. With more than 2 billion Internet users, there are many threats: malicious, unintentional, and natural.  We need to ensure there are basic protections in place to protect our cyber world, so it’s safe for all users. To do that, we need to continually educate ourselves and each other.

What is Cybersecurity?

The practice of Cybersecurity is preventing, deterring, detecting, and responding to threats to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information systems.  This is my definition based on feedback from a number of friends and colleagues.  What do you think about it? Is it complete?  Feel free to leave a comment below with your thoughts.

The one element that I think is missing is risk and risk management.  Security is a component of risk management and is a method, process, or tool for protecting critical organizational assets.  Security should be based on the identified risks and balanced with usability and cost.

Why should I care?

Security is both an action and a feeling.  We need to take that into account when designing, implementing, and managing security controls.  You need to ask intelligent questions about the risks and the protection methods to ensure you’re hitting the sweet spot between too much security and not enough.  Some questions to ask are:

• Why are you implementing security? 
• What problem(s) are you trying to solve?
• What is the level of protection you need to provide security and feel secure?
• Is it more important to feel secure or be secure?

Answering these questions also answer the question of “Why should I care about security?”  They help you and your organization justify the right level of security.

Why should I read this blog?

Granted, there are many other security blogs out there.  We hope to provide different perspectives on Cybersecurity.  It is also our hope to give a voice to the Bellevue University students, faculty and community.  

It’s a big, wild cyber world out there.  While we trust others to help us be secure, it’s also up to us to do our part.  Reading this blog is one way to do it.  Another is to comment on our blog posts.  We want to hear from our readers.  What is important about security for you?  Are there any topics you’d like to see covered? Let us know.