02. Rules Governing Cybersecurity

Summary

It’s important for you to know the rules governing cybersecurity you'll need to make sure you and your organization are following those rules. In this lesson, you'll learn about influential, international organizations that develop and maintain the standards used by companies worldwide to defend data, computers, and networks.

There are organizations responsible for setting the standards in the US and Internationally. There are also ones that focus on specific areas.

• In the United States, that organization is the National Institute of Standards and Technology, also known as NIST.
• The International Organization for Standards or ISO works with the International Electrotechnical Commission or IEC to set worldwide technology standards.
• There are also governing bodies that set the rules for specific areas. For example, the Payment Card Industry (PCI) has the Data Security Standards that are required for any business accepting or handling credit card data.

Why do we need security standards?

• For safety, to make sure technology doesn’t cause problems for people or other technologies
• Allow technology interconnectivity
• Make sure everyone is playing by the same rules (this is known as compliance)
• For efficiency