Tanishq Rupaal

When I started exploring new programming languages and tooling, Go caught my attention for several compelling reasons suitable for security engineering. It’s fast, statically typed, and compiles to a single binary.

Fundamentals

Before getting anywhere, Go should be installed using the instructions specified in Go Docs. It’s very straightforward.

[!TIP] Pro Tip: It’s an amazing idea to use containers to run Go stuff. In my project containerized-security-toolkit, the default Go BIN path is /root/go/bin/.

Getting Started

Go uses go.mod files for dependency tracking, which can be initialized using the go mod init command. For example:

# Initialize a new module
go mod init github.com/tanq16/go-learn

In Go, code is organized into packages, which also groups functions together from files in the same directory. A typical Go program starts with a main package and a main function.

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    // Print a simple message
    fmt.Println("Etherios!")
}

This code can be run with go run . or compiled into a binary with go build .. To install the program as an executable in the default Go bin path, use go install.

Why Go for Security?

Here is a quick comparison of why I prefer Go over Python for certain tools:

Feature	Go	Python
Speed	Compiled, extremely fast	Interpreted, slower
Concurrency	Native Goroutines	~Asyncio~ / Threading
Distribution	Single static binary	Requires Venv / Dependencies
Type System	Static (catch bugs early)	Dynamic

[!DANGER] Warning: While Go is memory safe, it does not prevent logic bugs. Always audit your code for business logic vulnerabilities!

Architecture Diagram

Here is how a typical Go web server handles requests concurrently:

graph LR
    Client[Client Request] -->|HTTP| LoadBalancer
    LoadBalancer -->|Traffic| Server[Go Server]
    
    subgraph Go Runtime
    Server --> Routine1[Goroutine 1]
    Server --> Routine2[Goroutine 2]
    Server --> Routine3[Goroutine 3]
    end
    
    Routine1 --> DB[(Database)]
    Routine2 --> Cache[(Redis)]
    Routine3 --> API[External API]

Advanced Concepts

One of the most powerful features is Interfaces. They allow you to define behavior without specifying implementation.

[!INFO] Go interfaces are satisfied implicitly. You don’t need to use an implements keyword.

type Attacker interface {
    Attack(target string) error
}

type NmapScanner struct {}

func (n NmapScanner) Attack(target string) error {
    // Implementation
    return nil
}

Error Handling

Go treats errors as values. This forces developers to handle them explicitly.

file, err := os.Open("config.yaml")
if err != nil {
    log.Fatal(err)
}