Secure Code Warriors – Final Battle Winners

We have arrived at the third and final blog post around Secure Code Warrior. In the first two blogs…

1. So, You Can Code… But Can You Write Secure Code?
2. Finding Cisco DevNet Elite Secure Code Warriors

… we introduced you to the Secure Code Warrior tournament held during Cisco DevNet Create 2021.

In this final blog post, I wanted to report back about the final battle between the crème-de-la-crème – the DevNet Secure Code Warrior Top 25. In this final battle (dubbed as “Devvie Secures”), we had an intense fight to the top between the top 25 winners of the challenge that was held during DevNet Create 2021. The winners of this tournament are literally the best of the best! Read on to learn more about these three legends!

Some high level statistics on this final stage of the tournament.

#1 Greg 🥇 (competed with C# .NET)

Job description: Greg is a Technical Consultant with a focus on Full Stack Software Development and Automation. He spends most of his days creating Web Applications, APIs, and various Cisco scripts; so security is always top-of-mind for him.
Favorite programming language: C# is his favorite language (of course utilizing the .NET Framework), and he is a huge fan of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP). He started his programming career in C# / .NET, building Enterprise Web and Desktop Applications, and he has stuck with it since. That said, over the past few years he has also begun to appreciate Python and JavaScript more. Python regularly helps him to knock out automation scripts that he can easily share with his team, and JavaScript with Node.js allows him to embrace more modern web techniques. Greg also competed in the challenge in C#.
Easiest Secure Code Warrior Challenge: Transport Layer Protection
Hardest Secure Code Warrior Challenge: Injection Simulations (but also his favorite)
Thoughts on Secure Code Warrior: “I am a huge fan of the platform, and would definitely recommend it to any team looking to beef up their secure code practices.”
Thoughts on winning: “It feels great, especially knowing that I’m doing right by the users of my applications. I beat some really smart competitors, and I’m humbled by that. I know that my secure code journey doesn’t stop with this. I’ll continue to seek the ability to personally improve, and educate colleagues on the importance of secure code.”

#2 Agung 🥈 (competed with Java Enterprise Edition)

Job description: Agung is a Cloud Architect, who writes (secure) code from the infrastructure level down to the application layer.
Favorite programming language: Agung loves a lot of languages, but if he has to choose only one it would be Java. This was his first professional language, and he loves that there are still a lot of enhancements happening to the language and ecosystem. Agung also competed in the challenge with Java.
Easiest Secure Code Warrior Challenge: Secure Transport Layer
Hardest Secure Code Warrior Challenge: Debugging challenge around offering too little, or too much error information to the end-user.
Thoughts on Secure Code Warrior: “I liked the bonus challenge where you really exploit a vulnerability of an app, so that you really understand what happens if you ignore security.”
Thoughts on winning: “Very happy!”

Samsul 🥉 (competed with Python Django)

Job description: Samsul is a Remote Backend Python Developer at a cyber security firm, almost every day he is writing and reviewing (secure) python codes.
Favorite programming language: He likes Python the most, because of Django, since a lot of things are ready to be used, and he does not need to create it from scratch. With Python, it is quite easy to customize, the language is very flexible, and everything can be customized, overridden, and patched.
Easiest Secure Code Warrior Challenge: SQL Injection
Hardest Secure Code Warrior Challenge: Security Misconfiguration

Thoughts on Secure Code Warrior: “After the challenge I became more confident to take my first Cisco Certification for DevNet Associate and passed it.”
Thoughts on winning: “I am feeling great to be part of the Elite DevNet secure coders, hopefully I can learn more about DevNet and continue my learning path to the professional and expert certification!”

Want more of Secure Code Warrior?

If you want to learn more about SCW, check out the session Playing to win with security champions & coaches: Why your development team needs both in the fight against common vulnerabilities!

We also have a Secure Code Warrior special offer on our offers page. Secure Code Warrior has a special offer for all DevNet Community Members! With their flagship learning platform, they guide each coder along their own preferred learning pathway, so that security-skilled developers become the everyday superheroes of our connected world. Get a free user license for every license purchased between now and March 31, 2022! (Terms apply.)

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