Cybersecurity and information security. Are they the same?

Often we use “Cybersecurity” and “Information Security” interchangeably. Being closely linked, however, these are different terms and cover different objectives and scopes although have some overlaps. The proper understanding of each one is important to avoid misuse. This blog post defines cybersecurity and information security as well as tries to characterize the scope and content of each one.

Cybersecurity is defined as a set of technologies, processes, and practices for protecting electronic data and technologies from unauthorized access, use, or modifications. Cybersecurity includes multiple layers of protection that aim to protect the information during the overall lifecycle of data management. Network security, for example, protects the information during the transit stage, application security – during data processing while infrastructure and cloud security ensure the secure storage and recovery of data in case of disasters.

Information security is a broader category of information protection than the cybersecurity. It is defined as processes and practices to preserve the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information. Confidentiality—prevents unauthorized users from accessing information. Integrity—ensures the authenticity and accuracy of information, preventing it from unauthorized modifications. Availability—ensures that authorized users can always reliably access information. The key important difference from cybersecurity is that information security covers both electronic and non-electronic forms of information. in the other words, information security is concerned with making sure data in any form is kept secure. 

Cybersecurity could be considered as part of information security. While cybersecurity protects the use of data on the internet, helps to reveal technology vulnerabilities, and prevents cyberattacks, information security works to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of any form of information from all possible perspectives.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity and Information security are not the same. Cybersecurity deals only with digital data and technologies which store, process, or transmit the data. Instead, information security includes all forms of data (electronic and paper, etc) and ensures the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.