Cyber security is a broad field full of interesting areas to study, though it’s full of confusing terms people may not clearly understand. You have offensive, defensive, and generalist approaches, which may make you wonder about the key differences to know between cyber defense and cyber security.

Cyber defense deals with threat actors and system security, employing a particular set of tools to do so. It’s also the name for certain tech-related careers under military organizations. Defense and security are related but not the same in most cases.

It’s easy to differentiate cyber defense and security once you know the basics: learning about the many areas in this field will help you do that. First, you must figure out why defense and security are different.

Are Cyber Defense and Cyber Security the Same?

That depends! You can interpret cyber defense as part of cyber security or see them as two different things. In fact, some people use both terms interchangeably. However, it’d be best to think of cyber defense as a part of cyber security.

In a sense, cyber defense is one aspect of cyber security, the one that deals with defending systems: setting up measures to prevent threat actors from stealing money or data from companies or governments.

At the same time, some people think cyber security and cyber defense are the same, though that would leave out important aspects of this field from recognition. For that reason, we’re able to make a distinction between these two areas.

Performing cyber attacks is a big part of cyber security, but that would seldom play a role in cyber defense – unless you think there are two types of cyber defense.

Are There Two Types of Cyber Defense?

There’s a distinction to be made when it comes to cyber defense as a term, though it’ll only matter for certain companies or organizations and not so much when you’re studying cyber security.

The two ways to look at cyber defense are:

• The defensive side of cyber security. The common and most likely definition you’ll often hear and use. Cyber defense often means defending systems from threat actors, which is a big part of cyber security.
• The military field of cyber security. In certain scenarios, companies and recruiters prefer to see cyber security and cyber defense as different. Cyber security would be the appropriate term for businesses and companies, while cyber defense would be militarized cyber security, which relates to cyber warfare between governments.

We’re talking about a big difference if you’re considering where your career is headed. Companies spend a lot of money in cyber security – but that amount pales in comparison to what the Department of Defense is willing to spend in (their definition of) cyber defense: 58 billion dollars for cyberspace activities in 2023.

10 Differences Between Cyber Defense and Cyber Security

1. Scope

Cyber defense is all about defending systems (hence the name). If you decide to pursue this career, you’ll constantly work setting up defenses to protect systems from threat actors.

However, people in cyber security may prefer attacking instead of defending. Some do so to study vulnerabilities in an academic setting, while others will actively try to get past the defenses you may set up to steal money or data.

So, you have to figure out whether you want a job in cyber defense or something else in cyber security.

2. Focus

In cyber security, the focus of your work could vary: it could be people, products, and more. It all depends on what your task or target is. However, in cyber defense, your focus is the network you want to protect.

Of course, that doesn’t mean there are no moving parts. A network is a complex mechanism that includes people, hardware, and software. You’ll have to learn how to defend even the tiniest, weakest element from threat actors to succeed.

3. Threats

Cyber defense is about stopping threat actors. In this field, you’ll set up countless lines of defense to prevent dangerous people from accessing information.

However, that’s far from everything that happens in cyber security.

Certain people in cyber security work as threat actors, meaning the threat for them is getting caught. Another issue they’ll usually face is dealing with cyber defense efforts.

Simply put, this field is a game of cat and mouse, and the threat depends on who you represent.

4. Tools

Tools of the trade differ greatly depending on whether you want a job in cyber defense or something else in cyber security. This fact is tied to the previous item – since different tasks require different tools.

For example, a threat actor won’t make an effort to penetrate your network so they can install a firewall, though they’ll learn about something to dismantle it.

However, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with implementing firewalls, VPNs, antivirus software, and more if you want a job in cyber defense.

Don’t let that make you believe you’ll need a drastically different tool set! Offense and defense often rely on scanning for vulnerabilities, meaning you’ll use similar tools for different purposes.

5. Execution

As we’ve briefly discussed above, cyber defense and certain offensive roles in cyber security use the same tool set, though they’ll differ in motivation and execution.

A threat actor will look for vulnerabilities to take advantage of them. In contrast, someone in cyber defense will scan for issues to fix them.

In certain scenarios, someone in cyber defense and someone working in cyber security (e.g., a competitor, a foreign government, etc.) will use the same tools and find the same vulnerabilities – but act radically differently to succeed.

6. Jobs

Although the many areas in cyber security are all connected (i.e., you can’t know your defense if you don’t know your offense and vice versa), you’ll see there’s a big difference between generalist cyber security jobs and defense-focused jobs.

If you’re interested in testing the limits of computers, cyber defense may not be the right area for you. In fact, this field is about people rather than infrastructure (most data breaches happen due to human error rather than vulnerabilities).

You can also focus on research, though you’ll need money to make that happen.

7. Funds

In tech-related fields, money follows the military. It always was this way. Whether you want to do research or find a high-paying job, you need to know certain cyber security areas pay better than others.

Remember, there’s a distinction between cyber defense (as in cyber warfare) and cyber defense (as in defensive cyber security). You’ll make more money in the former than the latter, though the stress levels are higher there too.

8. Politics

Since cyber defense (the field related to defensive cyber security) and cyber defense (the field related to cyber warfare) often brush up against each other, you’ll have to tread carefully if you want to escape politics.

Of course, working for a small business and setting up a secure network for their data will never put you under the government’s radar. That’s a good thing! It’s also one of the main differences you’ll find between small-time cyber defense and big-time cyber security (e.g., working for the NSA.)

9. Research

Bob Thomas created the first computer virus called Creeper. He released it into ARPANET (think of it as prehistorical internet), pushing Ray Tomlinson to create Reaper, the first antivirus software.

You could interpret that as the founding moment in cyber defense history. Someone comes up with a way to harm a system, and others have to figure out how to defend it.

In cyber defense, your research will have you study attacks (so you can stop them) and systems (so you can better defend them). It’s the other way around in certain cyber security fields.

10. Results

Since cyber defense has a specific scope, focus, and sets of tasks, as well as dealing with a particular set of threat actors, you can’t expect anything other than a definite set of results. In other words, this field is all about keeping valuable things behind secure walls.

In contrast, you’d be successful after a data breach takes place in certain cyber security sectors, though that would never be the case if you’re playing defense. In fact, a breach taking place is one of the worst things possible for a cyber defense specialist.

Should You Focus on Cyber Security or Cyber Defense?

Beginners should focus on cyber security as a whole before specializing, even if they want to work in cyber defense. At the same time, those who have little to no IT knowledge should focus on building a foundation before moving to cyber security.

Security is a big part of IT – and could prove quite lucrative as a career path for those willing to put the work in. However, that doesn’t mean it’s beginner-friendly. Before attacking and defending a system, you need to understand how everything works and is built.

In other words, the best way to get a career in cyber defense is to know your way around every area of cyber security, and you need to know a lot about tech for that to happen.

How Many Cyber Security Areas Are There?

Cyber security could be divided into offensive, defensive, and general fields. Some believe there’s also a fourth area related to resilience, which is gaining more recognition as time goes by.

• Offensive. Offensive cyber security is what most people think about when they talk about this field: hacking, phishing, injecting malicious code, spreading malware, and more. However, attacking is a small side of security, considering most people want to defend their systems.
• Defensive. Defensive cyber security is all about preventing attacks from taking place. It entails everything from not falling for phishing attempts, securing code to fix vulnerabilities in software and websites, to updating software and hardware to avoid using outdated (thus unsafe) systems.
• General. General cyber security deals with both offensive and defensive areas of this field. Small businesses tend to hire generalists because they can’t afford specialists (and don’t need them either). However, as you advance in your career, you’ll be bound to specialize in either area.
• Resiliency. The fourth and final aspect of cyber security deals with the aftermath of an attack. Cyber security resilience deals with how you recover from a cyber attack attempt, whether the threat actor was successful (e.g., how to recover from a data breach) or unsuccessful (e.g., how to fine-tune your security after a cyber attack).

Those who are serious about cyber security should know about every area of the field, even if they want to specialize in cyber defense.

Conclusion

Cyber defense is a big part of cyber security, though it has its own focus, scope, and tasks. In certain scenarios, cyber defense is a field related to cyber security under military organizations. However, most people talk about cyber defense in contrast to other areas of security.