The right answer is both IMO. You need the thinkers, integrators, and operators to do it right. The term Security Professional at its basic level simply denotes someone who works to make things secure.
You can't be secure with only application security any more than you can be secure with only firewalls or NIDs. The entire ecosystem and lifecycle must be risk managed and that is accomplished by security professionals. Each professional may have a specialty due to the breadth of topics covered by Security (let's not forget our Physical Security either), but all would be expected to act as professionals. Professionals in this definition being people who are certified and expected to operate within specified standards of quality and behavior much like CISSP, CPA, MD, etc. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Gunnar Peterson Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 9:13 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: SC-L@securecoding.org Subject: Re: [SC-L] What defines an InfoSec Professional? actually just the former. Robert Garigue characterized firewalls, nids, et al as good network hygiene. The equivalent of a dentist telling you to brush your teeth. An infosec pro needs much more depth than that. The model is charlemagne http://1raindrop.typepad.com/1_raindrop/2007/02/thinking_about_.html -gp -----Original Message----- From: "McGovern, James F (HTSC, IT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thursday, Mar 8, 2007 10:27 am Subject: [SC-L] What defines an InfoSec Professional? If you have two individuals, one of which has been practicing secure coding= practices and encouraging others to do so for years while another individu= al was involved with firewalls, intrusion detection, information security p= olicies and so on, are they both information security professionals or just= the later? ************************************************************************ * This communication, including attachments, is for the exclusive use of addressee and may contain proprietary, confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any use, copying, disclosure, dissemination or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail, delete this communication and destroy all copies. ************************************************************************ * _______________________________________________ Secure Coding mailing list (SC-L) SC-L@securecoding.org List information, subscriptions, etc - http://krvw.com/mailman/listinfo/sc-l List charter available at - http://www.securecoding.org/list/charter.php SC-L is hosted and moderated by KRvW Associates, LLC (http://www.KRvW.com) as a free, non-commercial service to the software security community. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Secure Coding mailing list (SC-L) SC-L@securecoding.org List information, subscriptions, etc - http://krvw.com/mailman/listinfo/sc-l List charter available at - http://www.securecoding.org/list/charter.php SC-L is hosted and moderated by KRvW Associates, LLC (http://www.KRvW.com) as a free, non-commercial service to the software security community. _______________________________________________