Cybersecurity is the ongoing effort to protect networked systems and data from unauthorized use or harm. Individuals need to protect their identity, data and computing devices. Corporations protect the organization’s reputation, data and customers. On a state level, it is about protecting national security, the security and well-being of the citizens, which is at stake.
A person’s online identity is who they are in cyberspace. To protect the data, the identity should only reveal a limited amount pf information about the person. They should take care when choosing usernames or aliases, as it should not include any personal information and it should be something appropriate and respectful. Also, the information should not lead strangers to think that you are an easy target for cybercrimes or unwanted attention.
Our data is stored and can be accessed on our computing devices. However, since we post this information online or share with our friends who may end up downloading it, this data ends up being stored in many places all over the world which is why one can never erase all the data they have.
White hat hackers use their programming skills for good, legal and ethical purposes. They break into networks or computer systems to discover weaknesses and vulnerabilities so that the security of those systems can be improved. They break in with prior permission and any results are reported back to the owner. The security vulnerabilities are reported to developers for them to fix before the vulnerabilities can be threatened. Some organizations offer prizes or bounties to white hat hackers when they report their vulnerability.
Gray hat hackers may report the vulnerability to the owners of the system if their agenda coincides. This allows the organization to fix the problems. However, some gray hat hackers publish facts about the vulnerability on the internet so that other attackers can exploit it.
Black hat hackers take advantage of any vulnerability for illegal personal, financial or political gain. They are unethical criminals who violate computer and network security for personal gain, or for malicious reasons such as attacking networks. They exploit vulnerabilities to compromise computer and network systems.