- Home
- Cybersecurity
- What is Cybersecurity?
What is Cybersecurity?
Security Everywhere
Cybersecurity comprises a set of technologies and practices that ensure the availability, integrity, and confidentiality of information percolating through digital systems, networks, devices, and sensors. This rough definition of cybersecurity is already insufficient because digital technologies are themselves rapidly evolving, reshaping human experience and understanding, and generating complexity and effects that extend beyond what humans can reasonably know or manage.
Our lives are now shaped at all levels by digital technologies: from fundamental critical infrastructure to prosaic crib-side monitors and coffee makers. The use and abuse of algorithms shape what we know to be true about the distribution of power, resources, and even the coherence of our social fabric.
These dynamics make cybersecurity one of the most professionally important and intellectually interesting domains—a true, twenty-first century master problem.
In the not-too-distant future, we expect the evolving and expanding concept of cybersecurity to morph simply, but significantly, into “security.” Cybersecurity will be synonymous with the broader concept of security and will be ubiquitous.

Technology and Humans
At the turn of the century, scholars and practitioners considered cybersecurity to be a difficult but bounded technical problem. Cybersecurity was an effort to secure computers and networks against malicious activities aimed at stealing data or money or at compromising national security.
Cyberattacks evolved from computers and networks to social engineering techniques and from there to hacks of personal identities and manipulation of objects and systems in the physical world. Today, the practice of cybersecurity includes technologies, processes, and policies; cybersecurity experts are called upon to protect users in many contexts beyond the screen. For cybersecurity professionals, human behaviors are as important as technical safeguards.

“Organizations around the country and around the world have told us that the one thing they need more than anything else in the cybersecurity field is people.”
Steven Weber, Faculty Director of CLTC and Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information
Why Pursue Cybersecurity?
As the threat landscape continues to evolve and hackers find more ways to compromise data, the potential risk for any company to experience a breach in the future is high. The increased complexity of the threat landscape means that organizations must employ more comprehensive information security strategies and solutions to protect business continuity and customer information.
57% of companies have experienced a breach in the last three years1
24% of companies have experienced a data breach halfway through this year1
36% of companies who have not experienced a data breach believe they could be facing one without knowing it1
How can organizations protect their data and avoid a breach? To combat the threat landscape, organizations are hiring cybersecurity professionals who can protect their information and prevent future breaches from happening.
Cybersecurity professionals are trained to protect a company’s financial information and intellectual property, fight online fraud, create hack-proof client records, and more. They can hold a range of jobs, including:
- Cybersecurity engineer
- Information security analyst
- Cybersecurity consultant
- Computer network architect
Protecting consumer data is an important responsibility, so many companies are willing to pay top salaries to hire experienced cybersecurity professionals.
Cybersecurity at Berkeley
We designed the Master of Information and Cybersecurity (MICS) program from the ground up to meet this emerging set of cybersecurity challenges. We believe the next generation of cybersecurity professionals will need technical capabilities and a deep contextual understanding of the ways in which digital insecurities shape societies, organizations, and individuals.
Cybersecurity professionals can make the greatest impact at the intersection of these domains. The UC Berkeley School of Information also sits intellectually at this intersection. We are teachers, researchers, and practitioners who bring together the ethical, social, political, economic, legal, military, and technical components of cybersecurity, so we can equip graduates to become leaders in the field, whether they wish to lead in the private, public, or philanthropic sector.
There is no silver bullet for addressing cybersecurity challenges. No static set of capabilities will ensure the career success of a cybersecurity professional. Our program is designed to develop students’ capacity to master the concepts, skills, toolsets, and insights needed to fuel a long and dynamic cybersecurity career.
{"admissionsEmail": "admissions@datascience.berkeley.edu", "degreeOffering": "ucb-mids", "fields": [{"hidden": false, "label": "Which program most interests you?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "degree", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "Data Science", "value": "MIDS"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity", "value": "CYB"}]}}, {"hidden": true, "label": "", "name": "no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent", "required": true, "type": 9, "value": {"gdprOnly": "false"}}, {"hidden": false, "mountPoint": 2, "name": "", "type": 7, "value": {"text": "Your personal data will be used as described in our [--link:https://ischoolonline.berkeley.edu/legal/privacy-policy/ target:blank]privacy policy[link--]. You may opt out of receiving communications at any time."}}], "grouping": "ucb-umt", "id": 893, "inferredFields": {}, "programsOfStudy": "5deaba1d-5f98-4636-abf0-c35d936afdd2, 5deaba1e-2939-4e8d-9ce6-7345e67fa31e", "screens": [{"allFields": [0, 1], "conditional": {}, "out": {"0": ["$next", [{"data": "$valid"}]]}}], "version": "1.0.1"}
{"admissionsEmail": "admissions@datascience.berkeley.edu", "degreeOffering": "ucb-mids", "fields": [{"hidden": false, "label": "First Name", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "first_name", "required": true, "type": 0, "value": {"text": ""}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Last Name", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "last_name", "required": true, "type": 0, "value": {"text": ""}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Email", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "email", "required": true, "type": 0, "value": {"text": ""}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "US Marketing Consent \u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00ba\u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00b8 - MIDS", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "lead_share_opt_in", "required": true, "type": 11, "value": {"checkboxText": "Please contact me about these educational programs.", "defaultChecked": true, "defaultRadio": "none", "disclaimer": "datascience@berkeley\u0027s technology partner, 2U, Inc., and its family of companies, work with multiple universities to offer educational programs in data science and other fields.", "format": "checkbox", "optInValue": "UCB-MIDS Marketing", "smsHiddenConsent": false}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "GDPR Marketing Consent \u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00aa\u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00ba - MIDS", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "lead_share_opt_in", "required": true, "type": 8, "value": {"disclaimer": "This personal data is collected and processed by [--link:https://2u.com/ target:blank]2U, Inc.[link--], datascience@berkeley\u0027s technology partner.", "leadShareOptIn": {"email": "Please email me about these educational programs.", "leadShareValue": "UCB-MIDS Marketing", "phone": "", "sms": "", "text": "datascience@berkeley\u0027s technology partner, [--link:https://2u.com/ target:blank]2U, Inc., and the 2U family of companies[link--], work with multiple universities to offer educational programs in data science and other fields."}, "retailOptIn": {"email": "Email", "phone": "Phone", "sms": "", "text": "Yes, I want to receive additional information about datascience@berkeley. Please contact me via:"}}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "State", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "state", "required": false, "type": 5, "value": {}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Zip/Postal Code", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "zip_code", "required": false, "type": 0, "value": {"text": ""}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Country of Residence", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "country", "required": true, "type": 6, "value": {}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Which program most interests you?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "degree", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "Data Science", "value": "MIDS"}, {"label": "Cybersecurity", "value": "CYB"}]}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": true, "label": "Degree Offering: ucb-mids", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "degree_offering", "required": false, "type": 12, "value": {"degreeOffering": "ucb-mids", "programId": "400"}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": true, "label": "Degree Offering: ucb-cyb", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "degree_offering", "required": false, "type": 12, "value": {"degreeOffering": "ucb-cyb", "programId": "399"}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "What is your highest level of education completed?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "level_of_education", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "High School", "value": "High School"}, {"label": "Associate\u0027s", "value": "Associates"}, {"label": "Bachelor\u0027s in progress", "value": "Bachelors in progress"}, {"label": "Bachelor\u0027s", "value": "Bachelors"}, {"label": "Master\u0027s in progress", "value": "Masters in progress"}, {"label": "Master\u0027s", "value": "Masters"}, {"label": "Doctorate", "value": "Doctorate"}]}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "What was your undergraduate GPA?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "stated_gpa_range", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "4.00 and above", "value": "4.00 and above"}, {"label": "3.99 - 3.50", "value": "3.99-3.50"}, {"label": "3.49 - 3.00", "value": "3.49-3.00"}, {"label": "2.99 - 2.50", "value": "2.99-2.50"}, {"label": "2.49 and below", "value": "2.49 and below"}]}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "What is your educational background?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "educational_background", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "Business/Economics", "value": "Business/Economics"}, {"label": "Computer Science", "value": "Computer Science"}, {"label": "Education/Teaching", "value": "Education/Teaching"}, {"label": "English/Writing", "value": "English/Writing"}, {"label": "Engineering", "value": "Engineering"}, {"label": "History/Government", "value": "History/Government"}, {"label": "Math/Statistics", "value": "Math/Statistics"}, {"label": "Physical Science", "value": "Physical Science"}, {"label": "Other", "value": "Other"}]}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "What category best describes your undergraduate major?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "undergraduate_major", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "Computer Engineering", "value": "Computer Engineering"}, {"label": "Computer Science", "value": "Computer Science"}, {"label": "Electrical Engineering", "value": "Electrical Engineering"}, {"label": "Mathematics", "value": "Mathematics"}, {"label": "Mechanical Engineering", "value": "Mechanical Engineering"}, {"label": "Physics", "value": "Physics"}, {"label": "Information Technology", "value": "Information Technology"}, {"label": "Other", "value": "Other"}]}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Have you taken the GRE or GMAT?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "test_taken", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "Yes", "value": "Yes"}, {"label": "No", "value": "No"}, {"label": "Registered but not taken", "value": "Registered but not taken"}]}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "How many years of programming experience do you have?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "years_of_programming_experience", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "0", "value": "0"}, {"label": "1", "value": "1"}, {"label": "2", "value": "2"}, {"label": "3", "value": "3"}, {"label": "4", "value": "4"}, {"label": "5", "value": "5"}, {"label": "6", "value": "6"}, {"label": "7", "value": "7"}, {"label": "8", "value": "8"}, {"label": "9", "value": "9"}, {"label": "10+", "value": "10+"}]}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "Why are you interested in the Master of Information and Data Science?", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "why_are_you_interested_in_earning_a_mids", "required": true, "type": 3, "value": {"defaultOption": "", "options": [{"label": "Advance my career", "value": "Advance my career"}, {"label": "Switch to a new career", "value": "Switch to a new career"}]}}, {"hidden": false, "label": "Country of Citizenship", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "country_of_citizenship", "required": true, "type": 6, "value": {}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "Phone", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "phone", "required": true, "type": 0, "value": {"text": ""}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "US Marketing Consent \u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00ba\u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00b8 - CYB", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "lead_share_opt_in", "required": true, "type": 11, "value": {"checkboxText": "Please contact me about these educational programs.", "defaultChecked": true, "defaultRadio": "none", "disclaimer": "cybersecurity@berkeley\u0027s technology partner, 2U, Inc., and its family of companies, work with multiple universities to offer educational programs in cybersecurity and other fields.", "format": "checkbox", "optInValue": "UCB-CYB Marketing", "smsHiddenConsent": false}}, {"conditionallyRendered": true, "hidden": false, "label": "GDPR Marketing Consent \u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00aa\u00f0\u009f\u0087\u00ba - CYB", "mountPoint": 1, "name": "lead_share_opt_in", "required": true, "type": 8, "value": {"disclaimer": "This personal data is collected and processed by [--link:https://2u.com/ target:blank]2U, Inc.[link--], cybersecurity@berkeley\u0027s technology partner.", "leadShareOptIn": {"email": "Please email me about these educational programs.", "leadShareValue": "UCB-CYB Marketing", "phone": "", "sms": "", "text": "cybersecurity@berkeley\u0027s technology partner, [--link:https://2u.com/ target:blank]2U, Inc., and its family of companies[link--], work with multiple universities to offer educational programs in cybersecurity and other fields."}, "retailOptIn": {"email": "Email", "phone": "Phone", "sms": "", "text": "Yes, I want to receive additional information about cybersecurity@berkeley. Please contact me via:"}}}, {"hidden": true, "label": "", "name": "no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent", "required": true, "type": 9, "value": {"gdprOnly": "false"}}, {"hidden": false, "mountPoint": 2, "name": "", "type": 7, "value": {"text": "Your personal data will be used as described in our [--link:https://ischoolonline.berkeley.edu/legal/privacy-policy/ target:blank]privacy policy[link--]. You may opt out of receiving communications at any time."}}], "grouping": "ucb-umt", "id": 893, "inferredFields": {}, "programsOfStudy": "5deaba1d-5f98-4636-abf0-c35d936afdd2, 5deaba1e-2939-4e8d-9ce6-7345e67fa31e", "screens": [{"allFields": [8, 22], "conditional": {}, "out": {"1": ["$next", [{"data": "$valid"}]]}}, {"allFields": [9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17], "conditional": {"10": [1, "", [{"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "CYB"}, {"op": 0}]], "13": [1, "", [{"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "MIDS"}, {"op": 0}]], "14": [1, "", [{"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "CYB"}, {"op": 0}]], "17": [1, "", [{"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "MIDS"}, {"op": 0}]], "9": [1, "", [{"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "MIDS"}, {"op": 0}]]}, "out": {"2": ["$next", [{"data": "$valid"}]]}}, {"allFields": [0, 1, 2], "conditional": {}, "out": {"3": ["$next", [{"data": "$valid"}]]}}, {"allFields": [5, 6, 7, 18, 19, 3, 20, 4, 21, 23], "conditional": {"19": [3, "", [{"data": "state.no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent"}, {"data": "true"}, {"op": 0}, {"data": "state.no_klondike_carmen_sandiego_region"}, {"data": "eu"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 8}]], "20": [1, "", [{"data": "state.no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent"}, {"data": "true"}, {"op": 1}, {"data": "state.no_klondike_carmen_sandiego_region"}, {"data": "eu"}, {"op": 1}, {"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "CYB"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 7}, {"op": 7}]], "21": [1, "", [{"data": "state.no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent"}, {"data": "true"}, {"op": 0}, {"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "CYB"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 7}, {"data": "state.no_klondike_carmen_sandiego_region"}, {"data": "eu"}, {"op": 0}, {"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "CYB"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 7}, {"op": 8}]], "3": [1, "", [{"data": "state.no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent"}, {"data": "true"}, {"op": 1}, {"data": "state.no_klondike_carmen_sandiego_region"}, {"data": "eu"}, {"op": 1}, {"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "MIDS"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 7}, {"op": 7}]], "4": [1, "", [{"data": "state.no_klondike_gdpr_only_consent"}, {"data": "true"}, {"op": 0}, {"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "MIDS"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 7}, {"data": "state.no_klondike_carmen_sandiego_region"}, {"data": "eu"}, {"op": 0}, {"data": "state.degree"}, {"data": "MIDS"}, {"op": 0}, {"op": 7}, {"op": 8}]]}, "out": {"-1": ["$next", [{"data": "$valid"}]]}}], "version": "1.0.1"}