Is It Cyber Security, Cyber-Security, Or Cybersecurity?

It depends.

Where were you born? How old were you when you first heard it? Which dictionary is your go-to? And most importantly, what books did your English teacher read?

More specifically, like any other word in the world, it comes down to two very distinct fine points. American? or British?

As an editor, there is a great possibility I am simply being nitpicky – pedantic if you shall. In the course of my tech journalism career, I have come across three ways of writing a single word. Cyber security – which is, by far, the most common spelling, cyber-security – a rarity, but you would be surprised at the probability, and finally, cybersecurity, which does not come with that dash of an intimidating red line underneath it on WordPress to crush your sense of language and therefore must be the correct version.

I find the latter a trifle misleading seeing how I use, or rather, insist, on British English while maintaining this is the official CIO Africa language. Yes, I am aware of all the imperialism conversations that could arise from this, but that is not the point. Not today anyway. It is also what AP (Associated Press) says is correct. That could be simply because they are as American as pie. Or, it could be because the AP Style Guide is the most legendary style guide existing in journalism. I do not own a Mac, and I am an Android user through and through (who will accept that Mac Book thank you very much…). I also know a lot of the planet’s laptops come pre-installed with American.

Several voices unite in the spelling of cybersecurity. The University of Nevada cite a source; “Cyber defense (is that an ‘s’ or a ‘c’ and is it a single word…?) solution provider Threat Warrior pointed out that the one vs. two-word spelling difference may simply come down to regional preference – American authors tend to use cybersecurity as one word, whereas British professionals have been known to separate the word into two.” Gartner’s IT glossary spells cybersecurity as one word.

As a British professional, I find myself doubling down on the American version, and it baffles me. Seeing cyber security as two separate words grates every editorial fibre of my being. WordPress, bless their nuance, does not make it easy underscoring this as an error. Then again, WordPress can be trained.

According to lexico.com, “New words formed by fusing together parts of existing words are known as blends. They used to be called portmanteau words, but this term isn’t used as much nowadays. Blends are very common in English and account for a very large number of new words entering the language each year.” Words such as brunch, infotainment, malware, netiquette and hacktivism. These are not to be confused with compounds, “made by joining whole words together, rather than parts of words.” An example being website or in our epic case, cybersecurity.

Naturally, the best way to clarify something confusing is to simply ask Google. So I asked.

• cybersecurity: 130 million hits, 0.54 seconds, with Cisco defining what it is by stating that it is “the practice of protecting systems, networks, and programmes from digital attacks.”
• cyber security: 518 million hits, 0.81 seconds, with a Kaspersky definition swearing that it is “the practice of defending computers, servers, mobile devices, electronic systems, networks, and data from malicious attacks.”
• cyber-security: 544 million hits, 0.81 seconds, with itgovernance.co.uk definitively stating it is “the application of technologies, processes and controls to protect systems, networks, programmes, devices and data from cyber attacks.

Clearly, Google has decided the winner here. Coming in second place is the rather dramatic British version. It would appear more people are likely to type ‘cyber security’ with a handful of pretentious insiders compounding it as ‘cybersecurity.’ Even more shocking, however, is cyber-security. I didn’t see that coming!

Why should you care?

Because. You are in the tech industry and have a stake in being perceived as knowledgeable. So, have you identified your spelling and will you stick to it?