The cybersecurity job that I have chosen to research is a blue team member. A blue team member is in charge of defending the system of a company in simulated hackings from the red team, a team hired by a company to attempt to hack their systems, or any real threats from external sources (Tauchman, 2018). These sanctioned attacks allow for the company to see how they would handle a real hacking event and also what their vulnerabilities are so that they can rectify them. This job relies on the social sciences to work effectively for three reasons: the teamwork factor of the job, the ability to understand where the red team or real hackers might attack from, and the ability to communicate with the red team after the simulated hacking is done.
The first reason why a blue team member relies on the social sciences is the nature of the job itself, that being a team oriented position. The team nature of this position is inherently apparent, as it is in this position’s name. One thing that blue teams do is create risk assessments to see what factors should be prioritized and what factors are the least risky to the system overall (Firch, 2021). These risk assessments require communication between the entire team, so the ability to understand how your team is thinking is very important. These risk assessments also benefit from the team having a wide range of backgrounds, so that risk factors may be assessed in a more precise way. Risk assessments are only one facet of the job a blue team member must do, the ability for the blue team to work together seamlessly in the event of a simulated or real hacking is also massively important to the effectiveness of the team.
The second reason why social sciences are very important in the world of a blue team member is the ability to understand the mind of the hackers or the red team. Being able to predict how the attackers will act and how they might hack into your systems allows for the ability to patch those vulnerabilities before they are exploited. This ability to understand the minds of the attackers will give a great advantage when it comes to combating cyber attacks, sometimes being the difference between a system being secure or being hacked. As such, all members of the blue team should be well educated when it comes to the social sciences and the mindset of hackers.
The final reason why social sciences is important to the job of a blue team member is the cooperation with the red team. The blue team and red team will engage in mock hacks to make sure that the system is secure and to find holes in their defenses, with the red team attacking and blue team defending (Hargreaves & Chamberlain, 2022). After the mock hacking is over, the red team will show the blue team where the exploited vulnerabilities were. The ability to successfully communicate with the red team is very important to the success of these mock hacks, and without proper communication these tests would be worthless. That is why the proper communication between these two teams is so important.
In conclusion, the social sciences are of great importance to the career of a blue team member because of the communication required between the team, the ability to predict the actions of the hackers, and the ability to communicate with the red team. These skills are what differentiate a good blue team member from a great blue team member, and because of this all blue team members should strive to learn these skills. Without the understanding of social skills, the capacity for the blue team to protect a system would be greatly reduced. I hope to someday be a member of a blue team, and the skills that I have learned in this class this semester will go on to prove to be very useful in my career after I graduate from college.
Citations:
Firch, J. (2021, December 18). What is a red team vs a blue team in cyber security? PurpleSec. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://purplesec.us/red-team-vs-blue-team-cyber-security/#Blue
Tauchman, E. R. (2022, March 17). Are you red team or blue team? how your skills fit into a cybersecurity career. CompTIA. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.comptia.org/blog/cybersecurity-red-team-or-blue-team
Hargreaves, A., & Chamberlain, J. (n.d.). The roles of red, blue and purple teams. IT Lab. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.itlab.com/blog/understanding-the-roles-of-red-blue-and-purple-security-teams