By Phillip Gagnon

Introduction:

Facebook is among the leading fortune 500 companies that require top tier cyber defense. And with 3 billion people in 2024 being members worldwide, they must be ready for a range of varied attacks that seek to access their customer base or the company Meta itself. With a very public domain, securing a network may sound confusing, “most of the information its public” is misleading in the true amount of information “mined” from uses that cyber criminals can use for malicious means.

One Strategy:

To maintain security the cyber team at Meta must remain up to date on new tactics and strategies and diversify their capabilities. One of the ways they test their security is to contract out to a “Red Team” or a group of legal ethical hackers to test their defenses (Capital Technology University, 2021). This red team will attempt to break into the network’s defenses. After their attacks, the red team will report their findings so that the cybersecurity professionals working for Meta can shore up their defenses. Then, after a while, attempt another attack when requested by the company. This is all to defend one facet for Meta; their Network Security.

Network Security:

            The role of a Network security specialist is to protect their company’s network from any sort of unauthorized users, attacks, or theft. However, in working for a company their job expands beyond cyberspace and into the mind of the users on their network. Human Factors play a part in a networks cyber defense. Why? Because the easiest way to steal, break, or disrupt something in a secure area; is for someone to let you in. (Cisco, 2024).One advantage to have in this regard may be diversity in NetSec professionals. Diversity creates a melting pot of concepts and ideas that provide a strong foundation to build on. Allowing a robust infrastructure that can tolerate and endure rigorous testing. This is implemented just from everyone’s varying experiences and ability to build off each other. This coupled with staying up to date on information regarding the latest threats and trends in the cyber domain can lead to a stronger defensive strategy.

Human Factors:

            Human factors are the mistakes that your network’s users may make that can cause a breach. The way to protect against this is to fortify your users. The way this is done is by training your workforce; on what they need to know and what to be on the lookout for (Carpenter, 2024). This involves far more than just informing them of the correct procedures, it involves explaining some methods that the user may receive and why they may be targeted. It involves researching new, current, and past attacks to prepare your colleagues for when they receive that new phishing email or attacks that look harmless to the untrained eye. Due to the fast pace of cyber innovations cyber criminals are getting trickier in their techniques every day.

Conclusion:

            For professionals in the network security field, social science plays a vast amount of their job. The biggest factor of that, being the preparation for human factor errors that are going to occur as a law of statistics as time and advancements are made.

References

Capital Technology University. (2021, August 27). How facebook’s expanded cybersecurity Red Team Efforts Go Far Beyond the Social Network: Capitol Technology University. Washington D.C. & Maryland Area | Capitol Technology University. https://www.captechu.edu/blog/how-facebooks-expanded-cybersecurity-red-team-efforts-go-far-beyond-social-network

Cisco. (2024, February 13). What is network security?. Cisco.https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/security/what-is-network-security.html

Carpenter, P. (2022, June 27). Council post: Cybersecurity: What can we learn from the social sciences?. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/06/24/cybersecurity-what-can-we-learn-from-the-social-sciences/?sh=27eeeda439f9