Cyber security is a discipline that covers how to defend devices and services from electronic attacks by nefarious actors such as hackers, spammers, and cybercriminals. While some components of cyber security are designed to strike first, most of today's professionals focus more on determining the best way to defend all assets, from computers and smartphones to networks and databases, from attacks.

Cyber security has been used as a catch-all term in the media to describe the process of protection against every form of cybercrime, from identity theft to international digital weapons. These labels are valid, but they fail to capture the true nature of cyber security for those without a computer science degree or experience in the digital industry.