Does Cyber Security Involve Coding?

I apologize if this may seem absurd but I am new to the this industry. Currently I am starting to study for my CCNA:R&S but unsure if to get a CCNA:database or CCNA:Security. My big question is about cyber security and if it involves knowing coding? I could be indirect but honestly the coding topic seems scary to me. Thank you for responses. I am new to this industry and want some input from successful people currently in the field. There are some areas such as buffer overflows, SQL injection etc which are related to Software Development, but not heavily so, and not for any given language. These are just abstracted concepts. You will need to understand CPU rings, memory and resource limitations/separation, buffer and bounds checking attacks but they are not complex. Put it this way, the network concepts you will learn will seem easy for a CCNA. The Software Dev concepts you learn would seem easy to a Software Developer. Nothing to be worried about, you'll learn interesting new concepts. I think this thread belongs in the Courses --> CCNA forum, but I'll answer it anyway. The short answer is: no. A not so short answer is; it depends what field you want to go into. If you're interested in the networking field (especially at the CCNA / CCNP level), security relates to firewalls, ACLS, IDS/IPS, dot1x, etc. No coding required. However, if you want to stand out from the crowd and become one of those exceptional folks that are sought after in the industry, you would do well to start learning Python. It's extremely easy to pick up and can be used for pretty much anything; config management, automation, network / systems administration, building web applications, etc. If you're interested in application security or pen testing, then coding skills are pretty much essential. When you're starting out in IT, it's easy to want 'all the things' and get overwhelmed with the sheer volume of certs / information out there. I recommend focusing on your CCNA R&S for now (there's plenty to learn in there) then look for your next challenge after you've achieved it. I would say: not really. Most "Cyber Security" jobs will have using fully-matured tools. Generally, scripting might help you if you want to do repetitive tasks at a faster rate. You need to be able to read a bit of code to figure out what its doing, and being familiar with a programming language or two will help out a lot, but no, its not a requirement. If a security team is mature enough to develop their own tools, they'll hire a developer to assist. Having a base understanding of scripting languages will be very helpful as automating tasks or integrating tools is something unique to each team but not a requirement of all analysts by any means. Understanding and being able to follow code will help you with malware analysis and reverse engineering. Again, not a requirement but something that will help if you lean toward those roles. The "Security" industry is very, very broad and there are opportunities in almost any area that you have a passion for. Pick what gets you going and work hard towards understanding that well. Seek out positions that challenge your current knowledge and allows you to grow. You have to have a fairly wide base of knowledge but before long you'll be able to focus on the areas that you really enjoy and have a passion for. Don't shy away from learning some programming languages, it'll help you but know that you won't have to be developing software as a security analyst. Most coding is not that difficult, it depends really on what you want to achieve. I have extensive knowledge of MySQL and PHP, but I have just started Python 2 & I will be checking Python 3 which will be handy. Python allows you to create your own tools. But you can guarantee, that it probably already exists in Kali Linux! There's some good tutorials on Cybrary OP3N, that point to some very good tutorials on Python, and coding simple data sniffers, etc. But, really you need to concentrate on Networking, Security and using Linux. I only know about Linux, MySQL, PHP, HTML, CSS3 and some javascript. But I picked all that up working on a Technical Support desk for web hosting company, whom got me to 'fix' Script Kiddies dam sql injections. Even though they used automated scripts to try and find hacking code, you can guarantee a majority of the time the scripts failed, hence they sent me in, to manually fix issues. Regards, I will agree with most of the answers above, most of the tools that are good just need training though.You need some bit of knowledge in programming for crafting viruses No such bundle of coding is required. You can just have a basic knowledge of programming and start working gratefully . In my experience, you dont need to be an expert coder but you do need to be able to look at code and have a basic understanding of what is happening. In my job, I look at a lot of javascript and C coding but I also write and use scripts to make some everyday tasks automated and easier. I honestly dont think you will be able to move forward in a cyber security position without knowing a little coding To do the exciting stuff - yes. If you are just going to want to work with out-of-the-box security products, then no. in general terms, no.. but in special situations, coding is an absolute essientiality! Depends on the situacion but generally no. Coding is a path you can avoid but for sure you will be a limited security professional. Generally coding is not required...