The terms offensive and defensive are used often in information security, sometimes interchangeably. But are there differences between the two? What do they mean in practical terms? And what does it all have to do with cybersecurity law, anyway? Let’s take a look at the basics of offensive and defensive security, and discuss where information security law comes into play.
How We Fight (offensively) Today
Unfortunately, most organizations today do not have a true offensive security mindset. They fight defensively, looking to stop intruders in their tracks—sometimes at all costs. Rather than becoming an adversary that’s trying to move fast and penetrate as quickly as possible, they sit on their hands waiting for adversaries to attack. Their goal is to prevent as many intrusions from occurring as possible rather than maximizing what damage can be done if intrusions occur anyway. When it comes to fighting against cyber-adversaries, not all companies are created equal—and what we’re missing today is a culture of offense-mindedness among infosec professionals in most companies.
The Definition of Defensive Security
While it may sound odd, defensive security is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a type of security that is designed to prevent an attack from occurring in the first place. While most people think of cyber attacks as offensive security measures, often times there are steps that can be taken to prevent them. For example, creating firewalls and other types of hardware or software is considered defensive security because it prevents others from accessing your systems on their own. Another form of defensive security is password protection. Most websites require users to enter passwords before they can access information stored on their servers. This serves as a deterrent for hackers who might want to steal personal information or data that could be used for malicious purposes such as identity theft.
How We Defend (defensively) Today
Since hacktivism has become popular, governments, companies, and individuals are on high alert for cyber attacks. Even though most of these threats focus on data theft or extortion, there is also a risk of something worse. Governments often have their military branch charged with defending against cyber threats while they work to find ways to launch offensive campaigns. The problem is that defensive security doesn’t seem like a major issue unless you have been attacked by someone else. It’s hard to tell if there is an imminent threat until after you’ve been hit so many people prefer not to take any chances at all. Since hacktivism has become popular, governments, companies, and individuals are on high alert for cyber attacks.
Difference Between Offensive
Security And Defensive Security
When security is mentioned, we often think of defensive measures – a firewall or IDS/IPS to protect our data from outside threats. When it comes to protecting our own data, we often associate offensive with being an offensive hacker (launching an attack against someone) but they are two sides of the same coin when it comes to security. In actuality, there is a big difference between offensive and defensive security which can be seen in how they handle privacy concerns on social media. The biggest difference between offensive and defensive security lies in their approach to privacy.
Why Offensive and Defensive Work
Together
One of the biggest challenges in security is knowing when to focus on offense or defense. In order to truly understand offensive vs defensive security, it’s important to have a broader understanding of both strategies. Offensive security is about going after bad guys (as well as protecting users from them). It can be thought of as a sort of cyber war. For example, when an attacker penetrates your network, you send in your offensive team—called Red Team—to find them. They have complete access and take down that hacker for good, leaving you with new insights about how your system was breached and how else it could be attacked. Defensive security is aimed at stopping hackers before they reach their objective. If offensive security is like fighting fire with fire, then defensive security is more like putting out fires with water. This strategy involves monitoring networks and systems for suspicious activity, looking for signs of compromise. Once detected, you stop attacks by blocking malicious traffic or shutting down compromised machines before they can do any damage. Both offensive and defensive teams are critical components of a solid cybersecurity strategy—and neither one works without the other. Without defensive work to identify breaches, there would be no way to know where attackers are coming from; similarly, without offensive work there would be no way to catch intruders once they’ve broken into a network.
Do you know White Hat Hackers are the Good Guys? Click The Link To Know More: