In this episode of Cyber Security Inside What That Means, Camille takes a deep dive into the topics of developers with Bill Pearson, Vice President in the Internet of Things Group at Intel, and GM of Developer Enabling. The conversation covers:
What the role of a developer is, and how it has changed over time.
How security plays a role in a developer’s mindset and job.
The balance and tradeoffs between security and user experience in software development.
How artificial intelligence has become a part of every software developer’s job.
...and more. Don’t miss it!
The views and opinions expressed are those of the guests and author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Intel Corporation.
Here are some key takeaways:
The definition of Developer is, quite simply, someone who develops something. This is often a software developer, but it can also mean hardware developers. Hardware developers work both on the small scale like phones, and can work on large scales like industrial manufacturing.
A developer has a lot of choices and a lot of different roles and responsibilities depending on those choices. Perhaps they are more interested in consumer tech and applications. Or maybe they prefer larger devices like robot arms.
This will determine where they work and how they are hired as well. Developers might work for hire by contract, at a startup, or at a larger company.
Learning to break things is also part of a developer’s job, so they can think more about security and do testing before what they have developed is released.
There are tradeoffs between security and experience in any software development. How easy is it to access things? What needs to be protected, and what is the best way to protect it?
One example is where to put a login on a site. One method is to put it at the beginning, so that nothing is accessible until you log in. Another is to put it somewhere in the middle, where you can access a catalog but can’t download anything unless you log in.
Thinking about security from the very beginning of development is incredibly important. A willingness to share and work together can also impact the quality and security of what you have developed. Consultants can come to test and try to break your product.
Trust has become an important part of security, as is changing up types of security and encryption. Because the things that developers are working on are so varied and the problems they are trying to solve are so different, helping the developer get their job done is the most important thing. From there, you go a million different directions for security.
There are reference implementations for security and development that are most often in a vertical-specific use case. The more that developers can be provided with a specific solution to their specific problem, the more it resonates with them. It gives them a “why” to the solution they are exploring and the model they are using.
Developers are much more interested in AI these days. It helps protect algorithms, increase security, and collect and analyze data in a secure way. Another thing that has changed is that there is more integration in teams working on applications handling data and security.
This is because AI is found in every piece of software engineering now, from self-driving cars, to phone applications, to intelligent machines, we see it everywhere.
What does it mean to be ethical in AI? There are new sets of standards and practices that have had to be developed and are being developed that are being built into education and agreements to address this.
Some interesting quotes from today’s episode:
“Back in the day, I had people looking at C++ development, and that was the thing so they became experts. The very best developers keep learning every day. Now those same developers might be doing Python and building AI applications.” - Bill Pearson
“So it’s this idea of shared security as well, where not only do I need to expect that the providers have the tools and resources that I’m using think about security, but that I’m thinking about security in my day-to-day activities including trying to break things and penetrate my own systems.” - Bill Pearson
“I do think that developers every day are trading off where and how to approach security versus how to make an experience that their customers are going to want to use.” - Bill Pearson
“One thing though, that I know is really important, is to make sure that whatever stance you take on security as a developer, that it’s thought about from the beginning.” - Bill Pearson
“You see people paying more attention to hardware or software root of trust - that really powerful root of trust. And then use that as a basis for building out the rest of their security infrastructure.” - Bill Pearson
“The notion is that by showing them how to build that solution, we just help get their mind around what types of hardware I needed, what types of software, how I implement security, how I implement AI, how those two work together - and with that orientation, they can then get a solid example of how to implement it.” - Bill Pearson
“In the past, what I’d seen is there’s a lot of developers who are kind of in their niche technology area… Today, what I’ve noticed is that, regardless of the use case, regardless of the industry, regardless of the technology, AI seems to be showing up for developers.” - Bill Pearson
“To me, that’s sort of the nature of developers. It’s their creativity, their innovation, and their willingness to try new things and see what sticks. So you always end up, then, with some technology that you’ve built, and then the developers are applying it to new and creative ways to their own applications. And to me, it’s one of the most fascinating and satisfying things about being in this world with developers.” - Bill Pearson