Prompt: How do engineers make cyber networks safer?

As previously documented, cyber security is a multidisciplinary effort, requiring skills from numerous fields to achieve cyber safety goals and objectives. Engineering plays a crucial role in cyber security, especially in physical security. With the advent of new smart technologies, every aspect of society has been made vulnerable to cyber threats. From transportation systems to the power grid, everything is connected in some form to cyberspace. Engineers have made efforts to ensure smart networks are safer by building stronger network topologies and new firewall configurations. Some of these new systems have been implemented in agriculture and water treatment plants. These systems are vital to the sustainment of cities and urban populations. Though there is modernization, some of the technology used within these systems are dated. Many cities are modernizing rapidly, but have vulnerabilities on their older systems. This is where cyber engineers step in. Efforts are not only spent on creating new and stronger cyber defense tools and technologies, but also to patch, debug, and update older systems while the shift to smarter technologies takes place. For example, the floppy disk, a technology made half a century ago, is still utilized in Boeing 747s and other planes to load navigational databases. Cyber engineers keep air transportation and the databases safe daily through cyber patches and updates. In the public sector, military cyber engineers must also deal with the task of designing new ways to defend older technology. Due to the emphasis on cyber security in recent years, the military has been updating many of its systems. The United State’s nuclear weapons program just recently switched from floppy disks in 2019. Though this is a step in the right direction, there are many other examples of vulnerable technology in operation, in the public sector and the private sector. Engineers have built new technologies and tools as well as patch older programs to make sure cyber space is safe.