Security professionals Vs. Hackers vs, job security

[Daniel ~]

Written by Daniel
Friday, 18 August 2006
Dark Reading looks at the security industry"

Firewalled

The Real Threat to the Security Industry

AUGUST 18, 2006 | 1:00 PM -- Security professionals spend their whole day trying to eliminate vulnerabilities, stop hackers, and lock down sensitive information. What if, one day, they actually succeeded? What if, by some miracle, they created a perfectly secure system?

Yep, that's right. They'd all be out of a job.

It's a harsh reality, but the fact is that every security pro's livelihood – indeed, the very growth of the security industry itself – depends on the threat increasing, not decreasing. The greater the danger, the more money allocated for security staff, technology, and pay raises. If the danger ever decreases, security will become less important, and those dollars will begin to go away.....

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[Aedan]

Given the number of sites I've come across that fail on page 1 of basic security, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon. As long as people continue to think that they can "do-it-themselves" without a good knowledge of secure application development, I think that there will continue to be insecurities.

On top of that, in some markets, there are regulations that force security testing on a regular basis.

[Daniel ~]

I was hoping you might put this into perspective for us. Thanks Aedan!

[Gizmo]

Security is an odd business, in that folks in such a business are basically working to put themselves out of a job.

Said another way, if they do their job properly, we won't think we need them.

[Favu]

Sort of like doctors, and aid workers and...

[Daniel ~]

...Nuclear weapons specialists? ":O}

[Favu]

Yup, pretty much

[Daniel ~]

Sad 'ol world....