Too Late to Fight “Cyber”
Original URL: http://blogs.gartner.com/anton-chuvakin/2013/03/27/too-late-to-fight-cyber/ | Archive.org Snapshot
In the place and time where I grew up, the phrase “computer science” didn’t really exist. Neither did the word “computer”, as a matter of fact. The whole area roughly equivalent to today’s computer science was called (and I am transliterating from Russian here) “kibernetica, soft of like “cybernetics”, but with broader meaning (see Russian wikipedia entry). So, I sort of grew up with “cyber” (reading plenty of sci-fi helped as well, of course).
In recent years, I made plenty of jokes about “cyber-everything” (and thought this site was brilliant, as far as “cyber-jokes” go). Some “cyber-words” still ring really stupid, and funny (just heard “cyber-diplomacy” the other day – I guess it is the opposite of “cyber-war” or something).
However, the time has come for me to admit defeat. Just like the word “hacker” in the not-so-recent past, “cyber security” has entered daily usage with a more or less set meaning. And, the word is actually kinda cute in futuristic kind of way.
More seriously, I think there are contexts where neither of “computer security” (e.g. non-computer devices or OT), “information security” (e.g. DDoS attacks), “IT security” (e.g. data theft not from IT systems) really work well. Therefore, I have come to peace with the term “cyber security” and may use it as an umbrella term for “all things information, digital, computer, data, information, network, IT security.”
There you have it!
P.S. Some reasonable definitions of “cyber security” I’ve seen are here and here.
P.S. Those who still plan to fight the war against “cyber”, sorry for abandoning the camp
