Jessica Barker

About Jessica Barker

Don’t be fooled by the name: cyber security is about people, not technology

When you hear the phrase ‘cyber security’, what springs to mind?

On the face of it, cyber security is often assumed to be purely technical: it could be described as protecting IT from viruses, malware and other threats that just keep growing in the digital age.

To take it one step further, cyber security is about protecting information that we create, share and store in ever-advancing ways from those threats.

When we really think about the role, value and use of information, we start to see that cyber security is about much more than purely technical issues.

However, it’s when we look at the threats, and how those threats become reality, that we can truly understand that cyber security is, at its heart, about people more than it is about technology.

Why cyber security matters

The world is faster, and more connected, than ever before: that pace and those networks just keep growing.

As individuals, businesses and societies we are now linked in ways that would have been unimaginable just a couple of decades ago, and through these links we are sharing huge amounts of information.

We are living in a knowledge economy where information has become incredibly valuable, whether that is commercial information that would enable a competitor to overtake us in the market, or personal data that is exchanged and exploited by criminals for financial gain.

If you recognise the value of information, then it’s time to take cyber security seriously.