Python for Cybersecurity

Introduction

This book is all about how to use Python for cybersecurity. Before we dive into that, let's take a moment to talk about the “why” of Python for cybersecurity.

A good starting point is answering the question “Why use automation?” If you're already in the cybersecurity field, you probably know that automation is your friend.

If you're just entering the field, consider how hard it is to keep one of your less tech-savvy relatives or friends from installing malware on their phone or falling for a phishing email. Now, scale that up to hundreds or thousands of people. Add in the fact that attackers are actually motivated to target your organization, and a single successful attack could cost the company millions of dollars. Managing cyber risk includes preventing malware infections, detecting and remediating ongoing attacks, ensuring compliance with corporate security policies, and more. By helping to handle some of this for you, automation is your friend.

So, given that automation is necessary in cybersecurity, why use Python? Python has a few features that make it a good choice, including the following:

• It's popular: There's a decent chance that you already know some Python. It's a lot easier to learn new ways to use a language that you know than to learn a new language from scratch. In 2021, Python was the second most popular language on the TIOBE index (https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/) and was quickly overtaking C.
• It's easy: For those of you who don't know Python, ...