Obviously this was scrapped due to lack of participation by the community. Mod(s) please feel free to archive this post. Unfortunate that after all these years Voat still does not have the user base that it should.

Go ahead and ask away! I'll be standing-by for the next three hours to answer your questions!

Cybersecurity Q&A, 24 Hour Lead-Up Primer:

In order for this to be of use to the widest possible audience, it is recommended that questions be posed in a manner which would present the greatest knowledge gain for the widest audience possible while keeping in mind that the format is targeted to senior level practitioners. No questions will be considered off limits while they are within the realm of programming and cybersecurity so please consider the fact that the audience is GLOBAL and situations and circumstances may vary by region and nation.

Well formed questions will pose an actual and actionable problem, theoretical problems and edge-cases are not necessarily going to benefit everyone but if you strongly believe that the discussion in this regard will benefit those involved for some upcoming problem please don't hesitate to add it to the discussion. As always, time and upvoats will dictate the flow, but if a underserved topic or question remains and begs for further discussion please feel free to message me to engage on it.

It is suggested that all day one questions be posed BEFORE the start time so that the maximum amount of answers and interaction may take place.

Please be civil, this is meant to be an intellectual exchange of information and not an ePeen measurement contest.

Trying not to "steal too much thunder" from the upcoming mini-series on Cybersecurity, but this is at the crux of many Cybersecurity problems, and it is my intention to delve as deeply as possible into this format with as much material as possible as would be beneficial in this regard. There is a certain and undeniable "catch 22" within this realm which M U S T be overcome by corporate interests in order to progress further!

It sounds like you are getting a good foundation, that's good. For secure programming, that is truly a "matryoshka doll" type of thing to get into and even after multiple classes it's only a foundation and it's something that can keep you on your toes well into your professional career. Secure programming has layers upon layers of complexity and one can never really account for all possibilities while implementing code securely in a practical manner. It is possible but not practical to get extremely granular control over things, but project managers have deadlines and projects have costs; the more effort that goes into this aspect increases the time to complete the project which results in increased cost. So that, essentially, is how we wind up witnessing mind boggling news stories of unbelievable breaches and data loss. Because in the end, some aspects of security were given less attention or none and the company decides to weigh the risk versus a possible hit to their credibility, pay a hefty fine, and the related costs in cleaning up the mess. Secure coding is just becoming more important as these scenes continue to happen; I only see the emphasis on secure coding growing further as time goes on.

Try to gain an understanding of the principles they teach. Read the language specification for a language you like. I wouldn't bother too much with memorizing function names or anything like that because APIs change over time. The idea is that you should be able to know what you need to do and can go into an API documentation, find what you need, and then implement it.

As far as choices and creatively solving a problem, I have good news for you: That is a large part of developing software. You start with a goal, determine the best language(s), and using your head (and your trusty API reference) you will make the computer do whatever it is your goal needs.

Here's a couple of things they don't really touch on in school that are very important anywhere: Learn a source control system (I prefer Git), learn how to build and run Unit Tests, figure out the difference between monolithic applications and microservices and in which situations each would be appropriate. Learn how to optimize your code, learn how to build secure code and robust error handling.

Feel free to pick my brain on specifics or questions.

You sir, have a fabulous username. Good choice.

No! No offense taken at all!

I just was trying to avoid the next logical step of some troll going in for the hopeful kill. Maybe I have spent too much time on Reddit recently, but I was just trying to clarify that in fact this will be s substantive and intellectual conversation and information exchange for like-minded individuals!

PLEASE do engage on this! Try to keep in mind that what you are taught in school is academia and not necessarily what you need to know to exceed in the "real world"!!!!

What you're looking for is Cloud 9 (http://c9.io). A cloud-based system running an IDE for your coding enjoyment.

Yes, I do through formal training and I also have working experience with sensitive information ranging from PII to U.S. military Secret.

Good call. The sessions will open three hours earlier than the start time in order to attain the questions & voats necessary.

I'll do it there if that's a better venue.

Understood, and accounted for. This topic is widely ranging and very divisive for many stakeholders, so overflow is expected.