Is It Cybersecurity or Cyber Security?
The American style favours the use of cybersecurity as a single word, but the British style prefers the use of cyber security as a pair of terms. However, the meanings of the definitions are the same in both cases.
According to TechTarget, the term: “Cybersecurity (which is based outright on American grammar/spelling choice) is the body of technologies, practices, and processes designed to protect computers, programs, networks and data from damage, attacks or unauthorized access. In the context of computing, the term security implies cybersecurity.”
According to Webopedia, the term “cyber” refers to “a prefix that is being used in a rising number of phrases to denote new things that are being made feasible by the widespread use of computers.”
The prefix “cyber” can be applied to anything to indicate a connection to technology, as in “cyberbullying,” “cyberspace,” and so on. As technology continues to take over the globe, the prefix can be added to anything to indicate a connection to technology.
Digital protections, internal data governance policies, and employee digital activity are all covered under the broad phrase “cybersecurity,” which is used to refer to everything from digital safeguards to internal data governance regulations and employee digital activity.
When to use the term ‘Cybersecurity’ and when not to use the term ‘Cybersecurity’
Despite the fact that both terms practically have the same meaning, the classic Military Cryptanalytics rule of solving technical writing, as laid down by William Friedman and Lambros Callimahos, suggests that the terms ‘Cybersecurity’ and ‘Cyber Security’ are used in two different and distinct ways.
Now, while applying the Friedman and Callimahos technical rule, the single word was only used when the word was the object of a noun, and the two words were only used when the word was the object of an adjective.
You would see the following sentences if you searched for ‘plaintext’ or ‘plain text’.
In accordance with Wikipedia,
Plain text is available to the public, is standardized, and is universally understandable. Plaintext, also known as cleartext, is information that has not been encrypted.
In the case of ‘Cybersecurity,’ we would get the following results if we used a similar approach:
The Roadmap for Cybersecurity
The availability and dependability of critical infrastructure are dependent on the availability and dependability of cyber security.
However, there are other examples, such as the phrase “smartphone” or “cell phone.” When the term’smartphone’ was first coined, it was written as two words:’smart phone’. Today, the term “smartphone” is accurately used to refer to the device in one word.
As an American with a grammatical preference, I particularly favour the phrase ‘cybersecurity,’ rather than the words ‘cyber security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber-security,’ or ‘cyber I’m attempting to make all of my writing consistent, so that at the very least, people will recognise my style.
Conclusion
Because of technological advancements and the growth of English terminology, the various spellings are now considered acceptable in the business. However, in the next years, it is hoped that an official, consistent spelling of this cyber word – as well as all the others that are rapidly forming in our technological world – will be established.
So, for the time being, we’ll remain with the term “cybersecurity.”
