Security Lessons Still Lacking for Computer Science Grads

Security Lessons Still Lacking for Computer Science Grads
InfoWorld (04/22/11) Robert Lemos

The number of software development and engineering jobs has grown significantly over the last five years, with social media software engineers, mobile applications engineers, and cloud infrastructure experts in the highest demand , according to Indeed.com. Meanwhile, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics expects the job market for software engineers to grow by a third over the next seven years. However, top computer science programs do not require students to learn the fundamentals of secure programming, which could hurt application security in the future, says Mykonos Software CEO David Koretz. He recently started working with the Rochester Institute of Technology to improve the security readiness of computer science graduates. Other companies, including Microsoft and Solera Networks, also have launched efforts to boost security training and reduce the number of vulnerabilities found in applications. Recent breaches of major online service providers, including Google, Facebook, and Twitter, have highlighted the need for more secure programming. "To me, not only is it not surprising [that we are seeing these incidents], it seems exactly what we set ourselves up for," Koretz says.