Privacy, Regulations, and Cybersecurity

CHAPTER 10Introduction to Cybersecurity

Passwords are like underwear: make them personal, make them exotic, and change them on a regular basis.

—Overheard at SecureWorld Atlanta

Passwords like underwear? Were it only that simple!

If that advice were all we needed, there'd be no need for trillions of dollars in cybersecurity spending, there'd be no ongoing threats, misery, and sleepless nights fighting hackers—there'd be no need for a book like this at all!

And yet here we are.

Still, it's not that passwords are not important—they are. What's also important is that we start this section with a smile. After all, you just went through a lot. You plowed through privacy, learned more than you probably wanted to learn, and then—then, you had to be dragged through the regulations section. Talk about adding insult to injury.

But you made it, and you're ready to start integrating all the things you learned in the previous two sections and apply them to a privacy and cybersecurity program. (Who's better than you? Nobody, that's who.)

To help lay down our program's groundwork, we will divide the topics into two sections. First, we'll address cybersecurity, pure and proper. Then, we'll layer in privacy.

So how are we going to go about this, you ask? Very carefully! Privacy and cybersecurity program development is not for the faint of heart. I should know, I wrote the book on it: Cybersecurity Program Development for Business: The Essential Planning Guide was published by the nice folks ...