Hacking and the Importance of Understanding Cybersecurity

Hacking has been in the news a lot more recently; it's been a problem for years for companies and government, but now it's an everyday subject that impacts all of our lives -- from our thermostats to the voting booths. Since I began my career working in cybersecurity (back then, it was just called computer security or network security) and have been studying this topic for many years, I can't say I'm really surprised by anything that is happening now, but it is certainly disturbing. And as I do more interviews on radio and TV about these topics, I'm realizing how confusing much of it is for most people, and that this needs to change.It begins with a basic understanding of how technologies work, and how connected we are with the rest of the world when we attach our devices to networks -- with wires or wirelessly. Most people don't think about how any entry point can provide opportunities for hackers. Everything that can be connected can be hacked. That's the reality. Software can make this more difficult if it's written well, but often it's not. And there are holes and backdoors. So when you translate that to something like a voting machine or a system controlling a power plant, it's the same principle. And it doesn't matter whether the person who wishes to hack into that system is in Ohio or Bangladesh. It can be done from anywhere that's connected.So where do you start to learn about computer security in order to get up to speed on the subject? Here are a few resources: 1) Wikipedia. They have a pretty good set of descriptions of how computers can be secured and hacked. 2) Books. I recommend a new one I contributed to, called The Language of Cybersecurity, edited by Tonie Flores. It covers a lot of the terms you'll hear used in the news. 3) How Stuff Works. They have some helpful articles explaining what's going on today. 4) After you've become comfortable with the lingo, you can jump into the news on sites like The Verge, where they have continuous content dedicated to cybersecurity. Good luck.