Cybersecurity is important because it encompasses everything that pertains to protecting our sensitive data, personally identifiable information (PII), protected health information (PHI), personal information, intellectual property, data, and governmental and industry information systems from theft and damage attempted by criminals and adversaries.

cyber risk: A risk assessment that has been assigned to a cyber threat, such as DDoS attack or a data breach. A cyber risk assessment may be either qualitative or quantitative, where the latter should estimate risk (R) as a function of the magnitude of the potential loss (L) and the probability that L will occur (i.e., R = p * L).

The best way to learn cybersecurity, as well as other technologies, is to combine the best of theory (principles and) with hands-on best practices. If you don't have ready access to a CODELANCER Courses, check out the cybersecurity training services on the CODELANCER Training page of this web.

Background: In general usage, a firewall is a fire-resistant barrier that is used to prevent the spread of fire for a prescribed period of time. Fire walls are built between or within buildings, or within an aircraft or vehicle.

In the context of computer networks, a firewall is a network security system that monitors incoming and outgoing network message traffic and prevents the transmission of malicious messages based on an updatable rule set. In effect, a firewall establishes a barrier between a trusted, secure internal network and external networks (e.g., the Internet) that are assumed to be untrustworthy and non-secure. Firewalls can be implemented as software that runs on general-purpose hardware (e.g., an open source firewall on a Windows PC or Mac OS X computer) or a dedicated hardware device (appliance).

How does a firewall work? In essence, firewalls function as a filter between a trusted, secure internal network and external networks (e.g., the Internet) that are assumed to be untrustworthy and non-secure. The firewall filter may be flexibly programmed to control what information packets are allowed and blocked.

So you want to browse the web securely and privately? Here’s a hard truth: it’s almost impossible.

It’s not just your internet provider that knows which sites you visit, it’s also the government — and other governments! And when it’s not them, it’s social media sites, ad networks or apps tracking you across the web to serve you specific and targeted ads. Your web browsing history can be highly personal. It can reveal your health concerns, your political beliefs and even your porn habits — you name it. Why should anyone other than you know those things?

Any time you visit a website, you leave a trail of data behind you. You can’t stop it all — that’s just how the internet works. But there are plenty of things that you can do to reduce your footprint.