Which Programming Language to Learn for CyberSecurity?

• Network Security 
• Information Security
• Application Security
• Operational Security
• Disaster recovery and business continuity
• End-user education

National Cyber Security Center of the U.K has published an advised sheet containing 10 steps for organizations to encounter the latest cybersecurity threats.

Programming Languages : Which Programming Language to Learn for CyberSecurity?

To be successful in Cyber Security Field, No Programming language is a must for an entry-level job.

But you have to learn some computer languages if you choose the subfield as a specialization. Specializations include penetration testing, security software development, etc.

To start a career as a cybersecurity professional, you can go with one of the following programming languages:

• Python
• C
• C++
• Assembly
• PHP
• JavaScript
• HTML*
• SQL

Cyber Security is a blend of techniques. On one side, you protect individuals and organizations from hackers.

You may use languages such as Python to write your code snippets and automate your whole task. You may proactively hack the system to find vulnerabilities as White Hat Hacker.

On the other hand, you may use codding knowledge to recognize flaws in a database and fix them before hackers notice.

You will also recognize malicious code in your web placed by hackers and can remove it before harm can be done.

• Allows malware analysis  
• It helps to prevent hacker attacks named AutoSploit, a script written in python language by hackers. It automatically steals user information from the web if executed.

2. C Programming

It is popular with cybersecurity, also due to two reasons:

• It’s a low-level language, allows direct access to hardware like RAM and processors. Allows reverse engineering.
• Lint is the code analyzer for C. It allows programmers to find bugs and errors in their code. If developers will not scan their code for vulnerabilities, hackers will.

3. C++ Programming

It is an advanced version of C. It supports full Object Oriented Programming features. It is considered as the best programming language for cybersecurity because:

• Its deep knowledge allows developers to find the vulnerability in code.
• A security tool named “Flaw finder” is written in C / C++ language. It scans the code and generates a list of flaws.
• It also tackles format string issues, buffer overflow problems, and race conditions.

4. Assembly Programming

Being a cyber-security professional, you must be able to know how malware works. So, you will be able to protect your system from malware attacks.

• To create malware, hackers use assembly language.
• In 2003, an attack named “Slammer” slowed down the Internet traffic. Microsoft SQL Server has also faced a buffer overflow bug that exploited the whole program.

5. PHP Programming

It is a popular language with cybersecurity because:

• PHP is most commonly used to code websites.
• A free tool “RIPS” conducts security analysis for PHP applications. If you are working as a security professional, you will surely use RIPS.

6. JavaScript Programming

JavaScript is the widespread web scripting language and considered as best cybersecurity language because:

• It helps developers to manipulate event handlers, steal cookies, and perform cross-site scripting.
• Hackers can create malicious scripts using JS that may take control of the whole website. To prevent such an attack, JS knowledge is a must.

7. HTML* Programming

It is a very simple markup language, virtually used by all websites. A cybersecurity professional should learn it because:

• Content spoofing is a kind of cyber-attack, in which hackers send an HTML cross-site script. It creates a false web page, containing the Login area that is viewed by users. With a false web page, hackers can collect user names and passwords.

8. SQL Programming

SQL is used to manage databases. It is considered an important cybersecurity language because:

• Developers use SQL to perform login authentication on their websites.
• Hackers also use malicious SQL code known as “SQL Injection”. They make queries using this language and access almost all the information they want.
• It results in the loss of sensitive data like passwords, security numbers, bank account information, addresses, and many more.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is a vast field and offers a variety of jobs including Security Analyst, penetration tester, security code editor, vulnerability assessor, cryptographer, and many more.

But one thing that can give you an edge, no matter what’s your cybersecurity job, is coding knowledge.