Skills Engineering in Sustainable Counter Defense Against Cyber Extremism

Abstract

This article identifies and classifies the core and additional soft skills required not only by engineers that design the security measures against cyber extremism but by other professionals in the field of cybersecurity. Furthermore, it recommends steps in how these competencies may be developed and evolved. IT-based solutions rely on the process of cognition-extrapolation-algorithm-programming from problem identification to the final product delivery. In all approaches to problem-solving, regardless of the nature of the challenge, the end product is only as good as the parameters that define the programming scope. The program capability and scope are defined by the creativity of its creators. Thus, when creating robust security measures that are designed to guard against cyberattacks by extremists, IT measures are only as useful as the creativity of the designer in the cognition-extrapolation phases of product design. Unexpectedly, this implies that the technical-based capabilities of technologically engineered solutions rely on soft human skills in order to have a practical application Additionally, as engineered products become more complex, work packages are broken down even further to more significant numbers of programmers and thus are even further devoid of individual creativity which is grounded and substantiated by soft skills.