Cybersecurity refers to the measures taken to prevent a hacker from gaining unauthorized access to a computer system. Secure, critical, or sensitive data is protected by a strong cyber security policy, which keeps it out of the hands of harmful third parties. Phishing, spear phishing, and putting malware code into a computer system are the most typical kinds of cyber-attacks. Data privacy is a subset of “information security” that deals with issues including consent, notice, sensitivity, and regulatory compliance. At its most basic level, data privacy refers to consumers’ understanding of their rights regarding the collection, use, storage, and sharing of their personal information. Consumers must be informed about the use of their personal information simply and openly, and in most situations, they must express their consent before their personal information is shared.

The importance of cyber security and data privacy is increasing day by day. The modern world is heavily dependent on technology and the importance of data protection is higher than ever. Data breaches that potentially lead to identity theft are now being shared publicly on social media sites. Social security numbers and bank account information are now saved in cloud storage services such as Google Drive or Dropbox.

Types of Cyber Attacks

Cybercriminals are becoming more advanced, altering their targets, and employing different attack strategies against different security systems. Social engineering is one of the most common types of cyber assault, followed by ransomware, phishing, and spyware. Financial data, such as credit card numbers or bank account numbers, protected health information (PHI), personally identifiable information (PII), trade secrets, intellectual property, and other targets of industrial espionage are all possible targets of data breaches. Accidental information disclosure, data leak, or cloud data leak are other kinds of data breaches.

Role of AI

Artificial intelligence (AI) and, in particular, machine learning (ML) approaches are increasingly routinely used to help computers learn and adapt to new data. Artificial intelligence (AI) can be utilized in cyber security systems to automate the detection of new threats as well as the application of technical controls and prevention. On the other hand, hackers have begun to use AI as a weapon, developing programs that can analyze systems, evaluate vulnerabilities, and even design appealing phishing schemes based on social network behavior. AI applications may potentially pose privacy concerns, particularly given the vast amount of data required to build a model and the frequently ‘black box’ reasoning employed by AI agents to reach a judgment about a person.

Challenges

Even if we don’t want to, we are constantly at risk of data breaches. Every week, there is a news article about some big companies having a security issue that resulted in a massive amount of user’s personal data being exposed and sold on the black market. People’s reputations can be tarnished, people don’t trust each other, and money is often lost because of it. It is important to understand the reasons why these things happen and realize how important it is to protect personal data and other sensitive information.

Small and Medium size businesses face challenges in protecting their valuable data. Better knowledge about modern cyber security and data privacy measures is very important and it can save a lot of money and the secret business documents of an organization. Nowadays even small business organizations are taking serious steps to protect their data from unauthorized access. Local, state, and federal governments all need to be concerned about cyber security since they handle a large amount of sensitive data and information about the country and its residents. However, due to insufficient secure infrastructure, a limited budget, and a lack of security knowledge, numerous government entities are having problems protecting data. Theft of personal data or sensitive information, as well as digital eavesdropping by terrorists from government entities, can pose major hazards to a country. As a result, cyber security is crucial for government enterprises as well, and it is a valuable national asset.