Additionally, the users of information technology should be protected from theft of assets, extortion, identity theft, loss of privacy and confidentiality of personal information, malicious mischief, damage to equipment, business process compromise, and the general activity of cybercriminals.
[1] Although billions of dollars are spent annually on cybersecurity, no computer or network is immune from attacks or can be considered completely secure.
The single most expensive loss due to a cybersecurity exploit was the ILOVEYOU or Love Bug email worm of 2000, which cost an estimated 10 billion dollars.
A "plaintext" message is converted by the sender to "ciphertext" by means of a mathematical algorithm that uses a secret key.
Computerized utilities designed to study and analyze the security of IT facilities and/or break into them on an unauthorized and potentially criminal basis.
[18] The securing of IT facilities that manipulate data, such as computer servers, often by means of specialized cybersecurity hardware.