Cyber security for Developers – How to learn cyber security

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Cyber security for Developers

The cyber crime growth has put the government agencies and businesses at constant risk of threats to their important business, financial, customer, and other trade data secrets. This makes Cyber security for developers a necessity as today, businesses all around the globe need cybersecurity professionals to protect business data from cyber criminals. In a previous tutorial we looked into Data Science for Developers, How to become a data analyst?.

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Over the past years, the demand for cybersecurity professionals has increased. As listed by the (BLS) Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S., it is expected that it will rise to 28% in the future. Before getting into the importance of Cyber security for developers, we must know what is Cyber security and its need in today’s technologically advanced age.

What Do Cyber security professionals Do?

Cybersecurity professionals provide security to data centers, software systems, and networks during the development stages. Their job is to search for the vulnerabilities and risks in the hardware and software of the system.

Cybersecurity specialists monitor and manage illegal intrusions and attacks. They can recognize the potential threats and breach attempts by shutting off the security vulnerability. These professionals develop new layers of protection in the form of security system updates.

These professionals make strategies and design various defensive systems against the intruders. The experts create protocols and defensive schemes and report incidents as well as grant privileges and permission to authorized users.

In addition to that, it’s the responsibility of cybersecurity professionals to examine the defensive system continuously and give conclusions based on the test results. They verify the undetected breaches by running the diagnostics if any change happens. This shows how important is Cyber security for developers in this age.

History of Cyber security

People usually assume that the computer virus came after the invention of computer networks. But that is not true. In 1949, a mathematician named John Von Neumann was the first to conceptualize this idea in his paper.

John gave the self-replicating concept of an automatic entity working within the computer that can harm the system. 1971 was a time when the internet was in its earliest form. At that time, some network users were surprised to see the message displaying on their screens “I’m the creeper, catch me if you can.”

Users had no idea at that point about it. Creeper was a kind of worm or computer virus that duplicates itself and then spreads over the other systems. It was created by Newman, Beranek, and Bold.

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Robert Morris, in 1988 had an idea. He wanted to measure internet size. For this, he designed a program known as a bug that propagates across the networks, infiltrate UNIX terminal, and then replicate itself. The replication instruction was a mistake because Morris worm copied too aggressively and caused so much damage due to the slow crawling of the internet. He was then charged under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. But Morris worm was the start of something.

Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is an internet security protocol that was designed for using the internet safely, such as an online purchase. Netscape launched SSL 2.0 in February 1995, which later become the critical language for using the web securely, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS). However, it was not enough for the conditions to come.

Anonymous was the first-ever hacking group prominently known in 2003. They committed cyber attacks that were generally considered harmful against different organizations such as the church of Scientology. The hackers were identified by their Guy Fawkes masks.

Security breaches were highly unusual before 2010. Google, on Jan. 12, shocked the world by announcing ‘Operation Aurora’ which was a major security breach on its infrastructure in China. The attack hit over 50 companies in technology, chemical sector, finance, internet, and media.

Initially, it was thought that the attempt was to access Google accounts for Chinese human rights activists. However, analysts discovered that it was to identify the Chinese operatives in the U.S. who were at the watch list of American Law Enforcement Agencies.

In simple words, with the boom of the internet in the late 90s, excessive use in the 2000s, and increasing malware and viruses’ attacks and threats, Cybersecurity become an essential part of the IT course.

Benefits of learning Cyber security for Developers

Why should developers learn Cybersecurity? Well, the simple answer is benefits. Below are the primary factors that have made the career of Cybersecurity a brilliant choice for many:

  • Evergreen industry: Cybersecurity is transformed into an evergreen field as cyber attacks are the by-products of today’s digital revolution. With the advancements in technology, the magnitude of the importance of Cybersecurity is very well set in stone as every industry and business needs cybersecurity professionals.
  • Choose the industry you like: With the advancements in IoT, Cloud Computing, Automation, and Big Data, we can see the digital revolution in various sectors. Thus, being a cybersecurity professional, you can work in schools, hospitals, top-secret military, and government agencies.
  • Huge potential for personal growth: Day by day, the cyber attacks are becoming smarter. Cybersecurity experts are seen busy in analyzing the risks and threats for organizations, patching the vulnerabilities, outsmarting the black hat hackers. Tackling such tasks can be done with thorough research and continuous study. This means that while working in Cybersecurity, knowledge level rises with experience.
  • Hefty paychecks: Almost every week, we read or hear the stories of cyber attacks. Now businesses and government agencies are looking for cybersecurity experts to protect their network and systems from cyber criminals. Also, they are providing training and paying high salaries to their employees. Their salaries are based on merit and not on ethnicity, age, or sex. Cybersecurity salaries have higher growth potential as compared to other sectors.
  • Work with top companies: Cybersecurity professionals can get a chance to work with 500 prestigious companies such as Dell, InfoTech, Accenture, etc., other than these, top-secret government and intelligence industries also higher cybersecurity experts.

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How to Become a Cyber security Professional?

The cybersecurity specialists must recognize the security gaps, maintain documentation on IT security controls, and prepare the action plans accordingly. They have to work with different organizations and stakeholders related to cybersecurity matters.

They are responsible for creating and suggesting recommendations about security policies and ensure the implementation and mitigation with support during the execution of those plans. The common cybersecurity operations include process re-engineering, automation, and documentation.

To become a cybersecurity expert, you need to learn computer expertise and get cybersecurity qualifications. Depending on the job designation and responsibilities, you need specialized certificates to fulfill the job criteria.

  • Bachelor’s degree: A mandatory requirement to get a leadership position is getting a degree. Higher job prospects come with more education. It’s better to get a bachelor’s degree first to become a cybersecurity professional and work on the technical front.
  • Cybersecurity certifications: Transmitting into a new field and get to know the latest advancements, certifications play an important role. Cybersecurity is a field, which is continually evolving.

Companies hire cybersecurity candidates who are ready to take jobs without additional skill-update and training. Certifications are the quickest as well as the easiest way to acquire the required skills to get the job. Below are some certifications that you might need:

  • Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA)
  • Foundation Certificate in Cyber Security
  • CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker)
  • GSEC / GCIH / GCIA: GIAC Security Certifications
  • CompTIA Security+ Systems
  • Security Certified Practitioner (SSCP)
  • Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA)
  • Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
  • Certified Information Systems Manager (CISM)
  1. Learn skills: Every field requires some skills to make yourself well-versed with the fundamentals for Cybersecurity; you need to learn the following skills.
  • Ethical hacking, secure coding practices, and threat modeling
  • Windows, UNIX and Linux operating systems
  • DLP, Anti-virus, and anti-malware
  • ITIL, COBIT, and ISO 27001/27002 frameworks
  • Security Information and Event Management (SIEM)
  • NIST, GLBA, PCI, HIPAA, and SOX compliance assessments
  • Penetration, vulnerability and IDS/IPS testing
  • Computer networking, routing, switching, and TCP/IP
  • Intrusion detection/prevention and firewall protocol
  • Java, PHP, C++, C#, or C programming languages

  4. Organizational skills: Apart from getting the right credentials, one should have the following skills to be a cybersecurity professional:

  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Analytical thinker
  • Problem-solving ability
  • Experience in different security specializations
  • Management and leadership skills
  • Ability to work in a fast-paced environment
  • Flexibility to multi-task

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Resources to Learn Cyber security for Developers

It is time to overcome the devastating gaps in cybersecurity skills, especially in fresh graduates. Some useful resources are required to prepare the cybersecurity persons for real-life scenarios. For beginners, there are various online practical-based courses on numerous websites.

These courses help develop and enhance cybersecurity skills. Here, we are going to share some well-known online resources for cybersecurity learning.

  • To begin learning Cybersecurity, Springboard’s Foundation of Cybersecurity is the best learning path. They provide free content and 40 resources of 38 hours over nine main modules.
  • Cybrary’s free training and community resources also aim to provide the opportunity to anyone and anywhere to learn Cybersecurity. They have an excess of free resources and courses on Cybersecurity. They also provide a toolkit of resources like free practice labs, assessments, and tests to help you achieve professional goals. On the website of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, information and content are abundant on security. Besides, the site also features free training materials and courses for those who want to get more knowledge about the safety of industrial control systems.
  • SANS Cyber Aces Online is developed by the SANS Institute. It’s a free course that helps to reduce the shortage of cybersecurity professionals. The course is designed to provide newbies with several core security principles that are needed to start a cybersecurity career.
  • If you are going to start studying for any specific cybersecurity certification, then join TechExam.net’s Certification Preparation Community. Probably most members of this online community have completed the same certification which you are going to take.

    Thus they can provide you insightful perspective and information on the process and can point various resources that you may not know about.

Final Thoughts

There is no doubt that where technological advancement benefits businesses, it also provides hackers with modern tools to wreak havoc digitally. To combat them, cybersecurity professionals are the only weapon and every business of today and tomorrow will need. These career choices for cybersecurity professionals make learning cybersecurity for developers inevitable.

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