Our increasingly digital world needs sufficient protections from the threats it faces. With more workers at home, ransomware use has spiked 72-105%, revealing a pandemic of virtual crime on top of the coronavirus. Remote workplaces need security, and that takes innovative cybersecurity solutions.
Without programmers, adequate cybersecurity measures would be impossible to achieve. Coders are building solutions through smart software that can detect and stop attacks at the source. With coding as a defense, programmers are building a safer future for our digital spaces.
Here’s how.
Coding as Defense
Coding is a vital piece of the cybersecurity puzzle, making programmers key to cybersecurity practices. These programmers use defensive coding as a tool to protect private data while adapting to new cybersecurity concerns. As security engineers, they act to enhance and strengthen coded responses to attempted attacks, a much-needed component of digital protection.
As the world adapts to more online workers and activity, a top-down approach to cybersecurity is essential. This applies to all industries and individuals. With so many at risk of cybercrime, businesses must push employee and user data security to the forefront if our economy hopes to recover.
Two-thirds of all surveyed companies said their data had potentially been compromised throughout the pandemic. This makes cybersecurity protections especially essential for the e-commerce industry, where data protection equates to customer trust and continued business. From the creation of an e-commerce site forward, data protection should be built into commercial networks.
That’s where programmers come in.
The Role of Programmers in Cybersecurity
There are plenty of positions within the cybersecurity field that require skilled programmers. Within the United States alone, there are an estimated 300,000 open positions for cybersecurity workers, all with a range of requirements for computer science and coding. While the majority of entry-level cybersecurity positions may not require coding knowledge, there is a real need for higher-level security workers with coding expertise.
Programmers are present from the beginning of innovating cybersecurity solutions. By working with data analytics and artificial intelligence algorithms, software engineers manufacture ways with which the rest of us can easily navigate cybersecurity.
While programmers can occupy a range of positions, common roles in the cybersecurity field include:
● Security Engineer
Security engineers are the programmers responsible for creating and implementing software solutions for all a business’s workflow security needs. This requires the adaptability and perception necessary for examining the situation around a security incident to create workable defenses.
Security engineers are on the frontline of AI and machine learning development, building better tools for cybersecurity at the end-user level to keep systems safe.
● IT Security Specialist
IT security specialists work as the police of a network, ensuring that all security best-practices are maintained across a working environment. IT specialists safely install and manage software. This often includes testing through penetrative code in an attempt to find potential weaknesses and places of improvement.
For IT security, the job is never done. Constant analysis and repairs must be completed to keep a digital system working securely. Programming is a key part of maintaining that system.
● Ethical Hacker
Ethical hacking is one more way in which programmers are assisting in cybersecurity solutions all the time. These white-hat hackers use their programming expertise to positively hack a business’s network, determining points of weakness and running vulnerability assessments.
Ethical hackers can work as bounty hunters, attempting to hack a system for a reward from the user, or as full-time staff employees, continuously looking for breaks in the system. The more data software can generate regarding its weaknesses, the better our approach to cybersecurity will be in the future.
These are just a sampling of the roles programming plays in cybersecurity, where code creation and manipulation are constantly necessary. From software building to ethical hacking, programmers create environments to test and improve cybersecurity processes, invaluable endeavors for the safety of all consumer data.
As technology improves, so will the ability of programmers to code a better future.
Programming a Safer Future
Programmers are the defense line between our modern, remotely-connected economy and the rise of cybercrime that has taken place during the pandemic. With new tech and cybersecurity techniques being developed all the time, coders of all experience levels can come together to build better systems in which the average user’s data is kept safe.
The academic world is increasingly seeing the value of coding skills. As a result, hacking is being taught in some schools to open up the education system to the technological revolution. The more gifted coders enter the field of cybersecurity the better since cybercrime can affect anyone at any time. With schools filled with tech-savvy cyber security-conscious students, we will fill more cybersecurity jobs and create a safer future.
Currently, programmers defend against cyberattacks from their positions as security and IT engineers, as well as ethical hackers. These efforts work to enhance the quality of cybersecurity technology, taking us all safely into the future.
Luke Smith is a writer and researcher turned blogger. Since finishing college he is trying his hand at being a freelance writer. He enjoys writing on a variety of topics but technology and entertainment topics are his favorite. When he isn’t writing you can find him traveling, hiking, or gaming. You can find Luke on Twitter @lukesmithwrites