Programming languages used in Cyber-security

Programming languages used in Cyber-security

How to pick a programming language for cyber-security

Cybersecurity has a broad spectrum of roles you can get engaged in and some of these roles will not need you to write code. These are typically roles in administration and assurance which includes Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst, Security Operations Center (SOC) Analyst, Product Manager and Compliance Officer amongst others.

However, some roles would require you to understand how to implement some amount of code within your role as a cybersecurity expert, and if you're a fan of Hollywood hacking scenes you're quite aware that there's a decent amount of coding knowledge to get on with.

So how do you as a newbie with possibly little or no programming background get into picking a programming language to get along with and hopefully implement in your career up the road?

These are 3 important things to consider:

  1. What programming languages dominate the industry/niche you're into?

There are many programming languages across many industries that are implemented within the security logic of that industry, niche or company and it's smart to know what languages these are.

Cybersecurity isn't limited to just one language, so you're welcome to take a broad look and see which one fits best.

I always recommend Python, especially if you've never written code before or you have very little knowledge about how to write code firstly because it is easy to learn and implement which carrries on to the next point

  1. How do they scale (what else can you pivot into)

I love Python because you can scale with this language into multiple industries including Web development, Software development, Artificial intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain. The best part is, cybersecurity fits right into all these industries and niches, however, you can also pick out other programming languages including JavaScript, and C/C++ if they better suit your scope of interest and the industries you seek to settle into.

  1. How much time are you willing to commit to learning

Coding can be difficult and you'll require a decent amount of time to learn how to get better at it. While coding can be difficult, some languages are easier to learn compared to others (again I'll recommend Python if you've never had any code experience).

Of course, there's no real way to tell how much easier one programming language is compared to another, so it's better to always consider the first point (what language dominates the industry you're interested in). This will at least mentally prepare you for how much work will possibly be required to get on with as you will not compare the work pace of an A.I software company to that of a finance company based on the work culture and amount of data/cybersecurity required.

This is not an invitation for you to choose to slack off, but the availability of resources can also play into your development progress - so hopefully you find something that works best.

Conclusion

Regardless of the programming language you decide to begin with, except if you're intending to get into development you just need to know enough about programming concepts and script syntax and you're golden.

Certainly, you can explore your interests and delve into more concepts with the programming language you settle with first and hopefully that helps you spot new opportunities in scaling your career as a cybersecurity expert.