Cybersecurity is eating the software world. In recent years we’ve seen a rising number of security scares, ranging from Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to the 2017 Equifax breach of Americans’ private information to Facebook’s numerous data woes. What’s worse, nothing seems to be getting better. In the past six years over 1,000 data breaches have occurred globally, despite the promises of companies worldwide that “we take your privacy and security seriously.”
Every Computer Science Degree Should Require a Course in Cybersecurity
As connectivity continues to expand from the internet to our wrists, cars, and entire livelihoods, security will continue to become more and more important to real-world safety. Should companies fail to address this situation, the state of security will stay the same while the stakes grow astronomically higher. Systematically addressing the problem of security begins with educating software developers at scale. Given that the majority of breaches can be readily prevented using industry best practices, a small amount of knowledge can go a long way. Universities should overhaul their degree requirements in order to make a security course standard for all students studying computer science. Such a course should teach fundamentals of building secure software, including common security pitfalls, secure coding practices, and application security.