Difference Between Cyber Security and Information Security: A Complete Comparison
By Barsha Bhattacharya
30 May, 2025
Security
People often make the mistake of considering information security and cybersecurity to be the same. Still, the truth is that even though both fields deal with data, they are quite different from each ther.
Cybersecurity professionals and information security professionals protect both data and often information. As a result, people frequently get confused regarding the difference between cybersecurity and information security.
Even though this is the popular perception of these two professions, the truth is that they are very different.
Difference Between Cybersecurity and Information Security
Cybersecurity and Information Security are different in several ways. While cybersecurity is one of the most important aspects of information security, it is crucial to understand that information security is broader than cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity personnel deal with several things, including maintaining networks and securing systems from data breaches. On the other hand, Information Security, also known as infosec, is much broader.
As a result, the infosec personnel can be seen dealing with an array of subjects that do not necessarily have to be digital information.
Infosec professionals protect all available information, whether digital or on paper. As a result, cybersecurity is a part of infosec by default.
What is InfoSec?
Infosec personnel must do several things, as the sector is broader than cybersecurity. Information security covers several kinds of information.
The information covered by information security is not always necessarily digital; it can also be physical documents.
Information security protects relevant information for security purposes. As a result, we may assume that cybersecurity is part of infosec.
Information security is also known as data security. Although organizations, entities, and companies preserve the most important and relevant data in digital format in the modern world, this was not always the case.
Organizations conventionally store information in the physical document format. Hence, information storage and protection go beyond just cyber protection.
Even today, relevant information is stored in a physical format as information is kept offline to avoid data theft through Cyber means.
What is the CIA?
Infosec professionals work for three reasons: confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The main purpose of following this is to ensure that the information’s integrity, confidentiality, and availability remain intact.
- Confidentiality: The Infosec professionals protect the confidentiality of protected information. Hence, infosec professionals protect any information from unauthorized access.
- Integrity: Infosec professionals also preserve the integrity of crucial information. Security professionals prevent the corruption and unauthorized alteration of data, maintaining the integrity of information.
- Availability: Most importantly, the information has to be protected so that the systems do not corrupt it and make it unavailable during times of need.
The Infosec professionals keep information available during the hours of need. This is how the Information Security Professionals protect information from all aspects.
What is Cyber Security?
To understand the difference between cybersecurity and information security, one must also understand what cybersecurity is and what cybersecurity personnel do.
Cybersecurity professionals protect the cyber networks and the data and information available digitally to an organization.
Cybersecurity and infosec are different in terms of definition. However, cybersecurity is a part of information security.
As information Security focuses on a broader aspect, cybersecurity is more focused and dedicated to protecting digital data and systems.
They are a focused group of professionals dedicated to creating and managing systems that are supposed to protect an organization’s crucial information and data.
How Do Cybersecurity Professionals Work?
Although cybersecurity remains quite focused on protecting digital data, it is important to understand that cybersecurity has different dimensions. As a result, we need professionals from various categories to maintain the system.
The installation of firewalls is important in detecting intrusions in a system.
Cybersecurity professionals do several different things to protect systems. From installing firewalls to encrypting data, they do a lot of things to protect systems from external threats.
Cybersecurity professionals also simulate attacks on systems to penetrate them, as this is also called ethical hacking. This ethical hacking practice ensures that the systems remain prepared when a real attack occurs.
Cybersecurity professionals not only prevent breaches of information and data, but they also get the systems back on track after any attack.
Cybersecurity executives also collect and protect evidence after data theft to proceed with the legal proceedings.
Areas Where Cybersecurity May Overlap With Information Security?
Cybersecurity and Information Security professionals are both relevant and important, and they differ in several ways. Despite that, there are several areas where both can overlap.
Digitalization is a common phenomenon in the contemporary world; as a result, cybersecurity often overlaps with infosec.
Organizations at present store most of the information digitally; as a result, cybersecurity professionals are now the guardians of important information.
Both information security and cybersecurity are jobs that deal with risk management and the protection of information.
They ensure that data and information do not fall into the wrong hands and protect the integrity of information.
Infosec protects the data and information critical for an organization, while cybersecurity protects digital networks through which digital data can be accessed.
In both cases, it is important to identify which data is crucial and which data needs to be protected. Hence, both departments work for the protection of the essential and relevant data.
Difference Between Cybersecurity and Information Security: Summing Up
Infosec and cybersecurity professionals are crucial for an organization’s proper functioning, as a lot of information and data must be protected from unauthorized access.
Cybersecurity and Infosec are different. However, as the infotech landscape has changed in the last few decades, it has become difficult to distinguish between them.
The pandemic has further changed the landscape. Since the post-pandemic, it has become further difficult to distinguish between cybersecurity and infosec.
As the systems have shifted more towards an online environment, the duties and responsibilities of the cybersecurity department have expanded.
Organizations in the contemporary world often do not maintain an information security team. However, this expands the scope of cybersecurity work.
Cybersecurity has become the most important department in today’s world, which maintains most of the crucial data of an organization.
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