Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting systems and information from unauthorized access and harm.
Cybersecurity covers three overlapping areas: people, processes, and technology. Technology provides tools like firewalls and antivirus. Processes are the rules and procedures that govern how technology is used. People are both the biggest risk and the most powerful control.
An attack can target any of the three CIA goals independently. A DDoS attack floods a server with traffic until it crashes — that targets availability. A data leak exposes private records without changing them — that targets confidentiality. Quietly altering a financial record targets integrity.
Understanding the CIA Triad helps you think clearly about any security decision. Encryption protects confidentiality. Digital signatures protect integrity. Backups and redundancy protect availability. These goals sometimes conflict — making a system highly available can reduce confidentiality.
Cybersecurity is not purely a technical discipline. The most common way attackers succeed is by manipulating a person into clicking a link or revealing a password — no software vulnerability required.