This is more of a philosophical poll then I think was originally intended. When asking does it take more skill to attack or defend it will depend upon the level of complexity at which you are considering the situation. Is it easy to install a firewall? Yes. Is it easy to scan for, and use ready made scripts to exploit known vulnerabilities? Yes.

However, to become very good at either end of the spectrum you must know a great deal about the other. You cannot learn how to attack a system without anticipating what its defenses are, likewise while defending a system, you must be able to predict what type of attack will come.

To finally state my opinion, it takes the same amount of knowledge and "skill" because the two professions both require the same exact knowledge of both securing and attacking the same systems.


Proove me wrong, tell me an example where an attacker can have zero knowledge of the system he is up against and still be successful attacking, or where a defender can not have any knowledge what or how his system will be attacked, while still be able to defend it.