Cyber

What Does a Cybersecurity Expert & Mentor Do?

A cyber mentor is an accomplished cybersecurity industry professional who uses their experience to aid founders in the cybersecurity market with business strategy advice, technical expertise, and more. Many cybersecurity advisors are founders of cybersecurity startups of their own.

What Is Cybersecurity?

Cybersecurity is a combination of systems and efforts designed to protect organizations against external or internal digital threats, including (but not limited to) malware attacks and data theft.

Defending against cyber attacks is a critical part of operating almost any kind of company in both the private and public sectors. Government cybersecurity is a significant market right now as the U.S. federal government continues to make progress toward its goal of implementing zero trust cybersecurity for all government agencies by the end of the 2024 fiscal year. This abundance of available government cybersecurity contracts presents a prime opportunity for emerging cybersecurity startups.

What Are the Most Common Cybersecurity Threats?

Cyber criminals have many methods at their disposal with which to target vulnerable digital infrastructures. Some of the most frequently encountered cyber threats include the following:

• Malware (malicious software) is any kind of computer code that’s used to harm a network, including ransomware, spyware, trojans, and many other kinds of digital threats.
• Phishing is a technique that uses spam emails, texts, social media messages, or other forms of electronic communication to trick victims into divulging sensitive information (like a password) or downloading a harmful file.
• Spoofing is when a cyber criminal impersonates a trusted individual (such as a customer support rep) in order to trick victims into sharing sensitive information or allowing harmful action.
• Denial-of-service (DoS) attacks cripple organizations’ critical online systems by intentionally flooding them with false requests. Distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks work the same way, except the attack is launched from multiple sources at once, making it harder to stop.
• Supply chain attacks target third-party vendors in order to damage an organization’s operations by disrupting its supply chain.
• Identity-based attacks involve a cyber criminal using compromised login credentials to impersonate an authorized user for malicious purposes. There are many kinds of identity-based attacks, including password spraying, brute force, and man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks.

Every organization needs an effective cybersecurity strategy to combat digital threats like these, which is why there’s a market for cybersecurity startup ideas.

What Can a Cybersecurity Mentor Do for You?

A cybersecurity mentor can advise you as you build your cybersecurity startup and answer many of the questions you have about the cybersecurity industry — questions like:

• How do I find investors for my cybersecurity startup?
• What are the most pressing unsolved cybersecurity threats? 
• What kind of technical team do I need to launch a cybersecurity startup?
• How can I anticipate and respond to evolving cyber threats and cyber security best practices?

A mentor from Mentorcam can answer questions like these and support you along your startup journey with a wealth of cybersecurity knowledge. Your mentor can offer advice as you navigate the rapidly changing cybersecurity landscape, as well as inspire you with expert insights you won’t find anywhere else.

Related areas of interest: Fintech, SaaS, Crypto & Web3