With over 5 billion internet users worldwide, web applications have also risen in popularity. However, with the rise of web applications also comes a rise in the dark side of the internet: malware and cyberattacks.
Now then, how can you stay safe against cyber threats and exploits, while also helping development teams protect their software against such attacks? Simple: through cyber security.
Hiring a team of cyber security experts can be expensive though. So why not learn everything you need to know about cyber security yourself?
This article will help you and your team go from cyber security beginners to experts from scratch.
So keep on reading to find out about how to become cyber security experts in no time!
What is Cyber Security?
If you’re not sure exactly what cyber security is, the first step to becoming an expert is to learn about it properly.
According to Kapersky, a Russian multinational cyber security firm, Cyber security is a field that’s all about defending electronic systems and networks from attacks. These electronic systems can range anywhere from computers, laptops, web servers, to mobile devices and gadgets.
Computer security has been a concern from the early days of computing itself. However, cyber security as a proper discipline did not take off until the second half of the 20th century.
Ever since the launch of the internet and the online world, cyber security has become a huge field that encompasses several areas. Cyber security is a huge market that is expected to grow to $345.4 billion by 2026.
Cybersecurity is relevant wherever there are web applications or services, including setting up web domain names. Takeontech is your best bet for finding a secure domain name for your business.
What Is Cyber Security Intelligence (CSI)?
Cyber Security Intelligence (CSI) is a sub-category of cyber security and is closely related to general cyber security. CSI is also sometimes known as Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI).
The goal of CSI is to effectively catalog active cyber threats, exploits, and security risks. By doing so, CSI aims to both actively prevent such threats, or to reduce the harm caused by them in the event of an attack.
There are four major types of CSI, each with its own focus area within cyber security:
- Strategic intelligence which analyzes threats and explains them to a non-technical audience.
- Operational intelligence which infiltrates hackers, their plans, and intent.
- Technical intelligence which focuses on the lower-level tools and exploits that hackers use for attacks.
- Tactical intelligence which documents specific threat tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
3 Simple Steps to Become Cyber Security Experts
Once you’re well-acquainted with the different types of cyber security and subcategories, you are ready to begin your journey towards becoming cyber security experts.
Here is a basic roadmap to help you get started on your journey towards cyber security mastery:
Step 1: Start From the Basics
Although we’re talking about mastery here, no master gets to where they are without a solid foundation in the basics. Granted, you can always learn a few script tricks that will make you feel accomplished, but you’ll never get far unless you understand the very fundamentals of cyber security.
To start out, you’ll need a solid foundation in coding, math, and computer science. The CS50 course by Harvard is an excellent place to start.
The next step is to understand data structures, a fundamental concept for all computer science applications, including cyber security.
Once you familiarize yourself with basic programming and data structures, you’re ready to move on to the specifics of cyber security. We recommend you head over to EdX and enroll in one of their introductory cyber security courses.
No cyber security or cyber security intelligence professional can call themselves cyber security experts without first learning cryptography. That’s why we recommend you enroll in a good cryptography course. Coursera has various cryptography courses, geared towards both beginners and more advanced learners.
If you’re not a fan of learning from universities in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), you can always check out Kaspersky’s cyber security training.
Other than just enrolling in courses, you should also familiarize yourself with the latest threats in the cyber security industry. The Comodo Anti-Malware database is a good place to start.
While all of these suggestions may appear overwhelming at first, don’t panic! Remember, while learning something new, take things one step at a time. After all, even the most experienced cyber security experts started out not knowing a thing!
Step 2: Understand Industry Tools and Solutions
There are tools for every job; cyber security is no exception. So whether you decide to go with core cyber security or CSI, you should be intimate with all the different tools you’ll need for your job.
Unlike traditional devs, cyber security professionals work more closely with lower level programming languages such as C, or command line interfaces like Shell. If you want to learn these tools following a proper course structure, you can use them from Datacamp instead.
Other than knowing C and shell, you should also familiarize yourself with penetration testing. Penetration testing is a simulated cyber attack that aims to check your computer system and network for vulnerabilities that can be exploited.
The Kali Linux operating system is currently one of the most popular penetration testing operating systems available. The goal of Kali Linux is to provide the tester with a set of tools to easily check the security of a computer system. Alternatives of Kali Linux include Black Arch Linux and Backbox Linux.
If it’s not already obvious, you won’t get very far in the cyber security world without first knowing Linux. So if you’re doubtful of your Linux skills, learn it properly first!
Step 3: Stay Relevant With The Latest Trends
We’re almost on our way to becoming cyber security experts! The final step is to keep learning more about cyber security and cyber security intelligence.
As cyber security is a rapidly growing industry, it will always develop new trends and keep evolving. To stay relevant in the field, you should keep learning about these trends.
New cyber attacks, codebase exploits, and malware are just some cyber security trends that keep on evolving.
The OWASP Top 10 provides a list of the top 10 threats in cyber security of 2021, so be sure to check it out.
Additionally, you can always check Reddit or Stack Exchange to keep yourself up to date with the latest cyber security developments and trends.
Conclusion
As more users continue to go online and use web applications, the cyber security industry will only continue to grow.
However, the industry is a highly technical one and it may seem difficult to break through as a beginner. That’s why having a well-defined roadmap to help you achieve mastery over cyber security is a must-have.
Just follow our three steps towards becoming cyber security experts, and you’ll surely take your cyber security skills to the next level!
