The question has been raised to me on more than one occasion: why cybersecurity? At heart I am a problem-solver and war fighter and, simply put, I can’t imagine a world in which humans exist and conflict does not. Whether it be planet Earth or a metaverse built on the backbone of a blockchain, the same idea applies. Red team, blue team, white hat, or black hat, today’s conflicts are being fought in many more diverse places than conflicts of the previous century.
Diverse places refer to more than just different countries or platforms. Today’s bad actors target everyone. From private citizens and businesses to Fortune 500 companies and politicians, no one is immune. I have chosen four other majors offered by Old Dominion University to help provide some specific examples of how cybersecurity is a mindset integral to most walks of life.
Oceanography majors may one day find themselves as a consultant for an oil company that routinely uses remote-operated vehicles to inspect drilling sites and deep-ocean installed equipment. The Oceanographer will play a big role in the planning for these operations, so when a new ROV design is proposed they would likely end up advising on the design. A cybersecurity savant would recommend security features to guard against loss of any company or proprietary data if communications with an ROV were lost or intercepted.
Surely a career in environmental health would be safe, right? People with jobs in this field may have access to sensitive areas to conduct surveys, take pictures, create drawings, and write reports all in the name of public and corporate safety. Security would be paramount in this instance as even strong access control to a survey site could allow an expert social-engineer access to your site. Additionally, although the information in a completed report may seem benign, bad actors could utilize its information to plan surveillance or even a devastating attack. Cybersecurity plays a very direct role in securing the information produced in this field, but also in the training of the workforce security best practices.
An Engineering Technology graduate could be hired right out of school and be put in an entry level position at any major tech company. A cybersecurity incident within the company is possible, but so is an incident as a result of the company. The first project the graduate is involved with could be as harmless as a bluetooth enabled hearing-aid, and because they are cybersecurity-minded, they understand the potential risk of most wireless devices and can recommend safeguards to put in place.
Risk posed by a security illiterate civil engineer poses, in my opinion, the most severe and straight forward risk. Compromise of confidentiality and integrity of information civil engineers are privy to creates opportunity for bad actors to create holes, sometimes literally, in the security of any project, even years after completion!
It isn’t difficult to identify potential landing pads for cyber criminals in most industries.So, even if my long-term plans don’t involve being a full-time cyber-war-fighter, I will be ready to do my part!