How Programmer can enter Security?

I just wanna know how an programmer can enter into INFOsec Arena.Is it thru making antiviruses or is there any other way.What is programmer view of security?

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Comments

dynamik

Do you want to stay with programming or do you want to transition to some other area in security?

Security is a critical aspect of any application, so your options are pretty much unlimited. You could start writing tools, authoring resources, teach, and so on.

JDMurray

As software engineer and InfoSec professional, I can say that any programmer who specializes in security--and is not also a consultant--will spend 95%+ of their time doing non-security-related programming.

Yes, security is a very important part of software architecture, implementation, and testing, but is still only a small part percentage-wise of full life cycle software development. Sort of like how security is a very important thing for your home, but the percentage of things in your home that are dedicated to securing it is very small.

As a software security consultant, you can swoop in on a customer, tell them what they are doing wrong, how to fix it, and swoop away with gobs of cash (or so I have heard). You end up doing 95% software security and 5% "other" software engineering chores for as long as your customer is willing to pay you. (Then its on to the next customer.)

Considering what a poor start the CSSLP cert has had i the software engineering industry, I understand why I don't see a lot of "swooping" by software security people. Citigal is hiring, so they must be having success in this area.

vin_eets

I wanna ask that I had done Java.
So shud I lool out for a job in java and do some projects in java
Or shud I move to networking field
bcz my ultimate goal is security:an Infosec professional!!!!

JDMurray

vin_eets wrote: »

bcz my ultimate goal is security:an Infosec professional!!!!

You will find more need for InfoSec in being a netadmin or sysadmin than you will as a software engineer. But honestly, you will need to greatly improve your English writing skills before you will be of much use to any professional, high-tech employer.

codeace

A couple of my "Developer" friends started as a Threat Analyst for companies (like WebRoot). Their work involved code dissection and behavioral analysis. Certifications like the GREM could give you a helping hand.

No matter what nothing beats passion and no certification can equal experience!

JDMurray

This brings up an interesting philosophical point: is a reverse engineer an "unveloper?" I mean, reverse engineers don't actually build anything, they just tear stuff apart.

codeace

"unveloper?"

JDMurray

Here's a very good blog post on how to reverse engineer the package of a firmware update for a Linksys WAP. The author's explanation is so clear and detailed that you can actually follow along on your own computer. This is a good example of what reverse engineers do (and get excited about).

/dev/ttyS0 Blog Archive Reverse Engineering Firmware: Linksys WAG120N