Digital systems and networks have changed and will continue to change the world. They can deliver massive societal benefits and are critical to our security, economic growth, and well-being. However, individuals and organizations must perform robust cybersecurity research and implement effective measures to reap these benefits.
Unfortunately, cybersecurity in many companies lags behind; thus, it's not delivering the protection we need. In addition, cybersecurity attacks are increasing, and cyber breaches cause significant harm to organizations and even individuals. This reduces trust and the potential benefits digital networks and systems can deliver.
Luckily, cybersecurity research and innovation can generate advancements that can help cybersecurity keep up with the ever-evolving cybersecurity threats. This creates a resilient and trusted digital space. However, to ensure progress in cybersecurity research, organizations must perform ambitious, challenge-focused research and pursue research that integrates insights from various disciplines across the globe.
What Is Cybersecurity Research?
Cybersecurity research is one of the major initiatives for protecting the digital environment, focusing on promoting research and development, proof of concept, and creation of test beds for improving indigenous capabilities and skills in cybersecurity. Research, innovation, and development are carried out in core areas of cybersecurity, including network and system security, cryptography and cryptanalysis, vulnerability remediation and assurance, and monitoring and forensics. In addition, governments across the globe work closely with academia, national research and development labs, and industry experts to pursue cybersecurity research and development solutions suitable to meet various cybersecurity challenges faced by multiple law enforcement agencies and critical information infrastructure.
What Are Some Big Research Topics in Cybersecurity?
Digital technology has transformed how organizations manage their daily activities, requiring government agencies, corporations, and organizations to leverage computerized systems to protect their systems from cyberattacks. Thus, protecting data against cybersecurity threats or unauthorized access is a top priority. There are many cybersecurity courses where you can learn about trending cybersecurity research topics to help your business stay up-to-date with cybersecurity measures.
With the rapid advancement of technology across the globe comes a rapid evolution in cybersecurity trends, as ransomware, data breaches, and malware become everyday items in today's digital era. Risk management strategies will be some of the most vital knowledge that employees and shareholders can have.
What Research Backs Your Cybersecurity Management Framework?
A cybersecurity management framework provides a set of standards and common language for cybersecurity leaders across the globe to understand their security profiles and those of their cloud service providers. With a cybersecurity framework, it's easier to define the procedures and processes that your company must take to analyze, monitor, and mitigate cybersecurity threats.
The NIST Cybersecurity Framework was created after an executive order by former President Obama. The executive order known as Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity called for comprehensive collaboration between the private and public sectors in analyzing, detecting, and managing cybersecurity risks. Although compliance is optional, NIST has become the caveat for evaluating cybersecurity maturity, detecting cybersecurity gaps, and meeting security regulations.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is a security management framework that calls for health organizations to implement security controls to safeguard electronic health information privacy. Per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), apart from demonstrating compliance against cybersecurity risk best practices, organizations in the industry must also conduct risk evaluations to identify and manage emerging risks.
Click here to learn about the future of cybersecurity research.
What Is Challenging About Cybersecurity Research?
Most cybersecurity research and development solutions have fallen into the trap of focusing on solving past problems without looking ahead to the next monumental challenges. Further, many cybersecurity research efforts continue to assume closed systems or focus on signatures. Unlike other technological-related fields, cybersecurity is yet to leverage or embrace many of the advancements made in other sciences. This has left the field in a reactionary state that is neither desirable nor sustainable. To cover the broad spectrum of human-based and technological vulnerabilities, current and future cybersecurity research must explore the following:
- The human-computer interaction;
- The purely technological basic research; and
- Computational and quantitative social science models.
These factors require a change in mindset, assuming companies have been compromised and moving towards adopting systems that adapt to external and internal threats.
What Does a Cybersecurity Researcher Do?
Cybersecurity researchers are qualified computer professionals that use their technical knowledge to pinpoint cybersecurity weaknesses within a company. In addition, they must stay up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity trends and data developments. Essentially, a cybersecurity researcher investigates malware, documents the incidents of compromises, analyzes and understands their capabilities, and explores the best steps to mitigate cybersecurity risks.
A cybersecurity researcher spends most of their time examining malware and source code and scrutinizing incident reports to understand cybersecurity threats better. Malware presents a daunting challenge. It requires strong analytical skills and patience to disassemble malware, reverse engineer it to determine how it works, and mitigation methods. The responsibilities of security researchers are almost without scope because the breadth, depth, and variety of malware are extensive. Further, re-manufacturing and reverse engineering existing malware causes an exponential increase in cybersecurity threats. Thus, security researchers require a strategy to focus their energy and efforts on areas that will reap maximum benefits for their company.
What Qualifications Does a Cybersecurity Researcher Need?
Educational qualifications for a cybersecurity researcher include a bachelor's degree in IT, computer science, or network systems. In addition, more colleges and universities offer specialized computer science and cybersecurity degrees. Cybersecurity researchers can also gain experience in the job. To become a cybersecurity researcher, you must have technical skills, like analytical problem-solving skills, creative thinking, and the desire to disassemble and repurpose software. Many cybersecurity researchers begin by working as part of software developers or IT security teams before moving on to cybersecurity research.
Cybersecurity researchers should also have hands-on experience with computer programs and detection tools. This role requires one to be fluent in C++, Python, and other programming software, languages, and systems. To become a cybersecurity researcher, you must be experienced with communication systems, debuggers, and firmware. And you should be familiar with various writing protocols.
Where Can I Stay Up to Date on the Latest in Cybersecurity?
We must protect ourselves, our communities, our countries, and the world by staying in the know. To do that, you must update your cyber security knowledge and employ simple strategies to gain good information out there.
Follow Influencers and Cybersecurity Professionals
You can expand your knowledge of the latest trends and news in cybersecurity in many ways. For instance, you can get information from traditional sources like blogs from cybersecurity experts and news websites; however, you can also attend webinars and conferences or communicate directly with cybersecurity professionals and influencers on social media.
You can even discuss cybersecurity trends with your colleagues in the office--the media covers so much on cybersecurity that it's become fodder for mainstream media. Many people will gladly discuss more than just the latest cybersecurity news, possibly offering ways to protect yourself and your devices from data breaches.
Browse Cyber Security-Related Topics on Social Media
Most social media platforms are incredible resources for digging up additional knowledge in cybersecurity. Also, they're home to treasure troves of additional information on career opportunities, local, national, and global events, and top cybersecurity businesses. Of course, social media networks aren't the only places you'll want to acquire knowledge from; however, they can supplement other resources on the list.
Twitter is valuable if you know which hashtags and trends to search for and who to follow. In addition, it lets you see real-time discussions and opinions about the latest trends and events in cybersecurity.
Attend Live Cybersecurity Events
There's a massive audience for live, in-person cybersecurity events. This includes conferences, and you can also attend workshops, lectures, discussions, educational courses, networking events, or sponsored meetups.
Online events are other splendid avenues to stay up-to-date on cybersecurity news and trends. Cybersecurity professionals and experts will attend these events or participate, presenting an excellent opportunity for learning about cyber strategy.
Follow RiskRecon on Social Media
RiskRecon by Mastercard covers various topics on cybersecurity on our website academy. Here, you’ll find tons of reports, webinars, white papers, videos, and infographics on cybersecurity research.
For instance, our latest report on balancing third-party risk discusses the possibility of your company or a service provider you’re working with being involved in a cyber attack. This report also discusses how businesses can be exposed to various cybersecurity risks through third parties. It also discusses the effect of poor assessment practices on your cybersecurity ratings.
By visiting us, you’ll also find another insightful white paper on risk management insights from 10 years of breach event monitoring. This white paper discusses the following:
- The frequency of data breaches across geography and industries.
- The methods and tactics breach actors use to exploit companies.
RiskRecon has tons of resources that can help you stay up-to-date with the latest news and trends on cybersecurity. For instance, you can attend our webinar on how to leverage security ratings in third-party risk management. This webinar discusses how to:
- Rate your cybersecurity performance and understand cybersecurity risks across your supply chain, including business partners and vendors.
- Conduct accurate vendor risk evaluations and continually monitor security processes.
- Speed up remediation and response efforts with real-time notifications on cybersecurity findings.
We also have an insightful blog where you can find the latest cybersecurity and vendor risk management news. Their latest blog on APT attacks discusses who and what these attacks target and how firms can defend themselves.
How Can RiskRecon Help Me?
RiskRecon by Mastercard can help your organization stay up-to-date with the latest cybersecurity trends and help prevent cybersecurity attacks. We offer an all-around, continuous risk monitoring solution that can help you and your organization identify and resolve cybersecurity risks as they occur. Sign up for our 30-day trial today and learn how we can reduce your cybersecurity risks.
