Q&As: what are cybersecurity and computer forensics?

Here are the questions you asked our panel of people who work in cybersecurity and computer forensics in Ireland.

Question: What does it mean to work in cybersecurity and computer forensics, what is the job of an anti-malware analyst and what is malware?
- M.A Kent, Wicklow

James O’Gorman (Microsoft): Cybersecurity is a generic term given to the practice and knowledge of protecting computer systems.

There are a large number of more specific practices within cybersecurity industry such as computer forensics, anti-malware, penetration testing, systems auditing, data protection, disaster recovery, etc. I work specifically as a reverse engineer and anti-malware engineer.

Malware is the umbrella term for malicious computer applications such as viruses, trojans, network worms, etc. My role is to reverse engineer these computer applications to ascertain what the intent is so that we can protect against these threats.

Question: What is involved in the life of working with cybersecurity on a daily basis? What would you consider the most demanding, challenging and rewarding aspects of the job, and how did you get started in the field?
- Patrick, Co. Mayo

Tony Davitt from Cisco SystemsTony Davitt (Cisco): Hi Patrick, the biggest part of working in cybersecurity is dealing with my customers and listening to their concerns and requirements and trying to analyse what the biggest risks for them are and how to mitigate them.

The most challenging is also the most rewarding which is the fast pace of change within this field and trying to keep up with it. However, because of this it means no two days are the same – and hence interesting.

I got started in this field as my background is in data communications and as this became more widespread, shared and mainstream so security becomes a must have and hence I ended up working in it.

James O’Gorman: There is no typical cybersecurity role, so describing the daily efforts would be difficult. From my perspective every day is different and my challenges change all the time, I’ve certainly never been bored!

I liaise with people from all over the industry, and like most security professionals I need to spend a lot of time keeping abreast of industry news, emerging threats and the security landscape in general.

The cybersecurity industry is ever evolving to counter the ever evolving threats that are posed to modern computing. From time to time this requires international travel, conferences and training.