What's worse, nothing seems to be getting better. In the past six years over 1, 000 data breaches have occurred globally, despite the promises of companies worldwide that "we take your privacy and security seriously. " The problem is that many companies do not have an incentive to care for our personal information when the biggest punishment amounts to nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Companies frequently sacrifice security for other business developments, since investing in it often yields no immediate financial benefits. Further, companies and governments alike will not, and cannot, improve their posture without a pipeline of talented individuals who understand how security works. As a security researcher who has discovered hundreds of flaws in the systems of companies and governments, I can say the severest issues are often the simplest — an indicator that companies need to go back and review the basics. Looking through data breaches reveals a remarkable trend: In almost all cases, they stem not from sophisticated hackers' exploiting novel vulnerabilities, but rather from simple errors that any well-trained eye could spot.
That one exception: UC San Diego. At the other 23 schools, students can obtain a degree without taking a single class in security, and go on to write code that affects the devices on which we increasingly rely. As an undergraduate student at Stanford, I have the opportunity to see firsthand how the next generation of computer scientists and software developers are incubated. While the curriculum does well at covering computer science fundamentals and hot trends such as machine learning, security is markedly absent from the list of degree requirements. Stanford's only practical security classes for computer science majors are offered as electives for those who might show interest. Given that Stanford, among other universities, is producing computer scientists who will inevitably be responsible for the impact technology has on our world in the coming decades, it is the duty of colleges to ensure students can not only get a job but also code with the attention and precision that security necessitates.
And a follow up, I know federal loans only cover four years, but technically I only took out a loan for one year. Would I be able to use the remaining three for a second degree? I'm getting my degree at a reputable liberal arts school that requires a good deal of gen ed credits, so if I do go for the second degree a lot of them should transfer. This means I should be able to get the degree in less than three years. Of course, there is the Masters route, but after research it seems like with the amount of prerequisite courses I'd have to take, I might as well have the bachelor's degree anyway. Or should I go the boot camp route? There is one where I live called LaunchCode that is reputable (I know a few people that got decent jobs out of it) and free. Obviously this sounds like the better deal financially, but I feel like the degree would put me in a position to get better jobs. Also, being a student opens up internship possibilities, which is a benefit I don't think typically comes with a boot camp.
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