The demand for cybersecurity has undergone a massive hike as many organisations from various sectors are rapidly and continuously going online. With such enormous growth, there is a huge requirement for skilled and well-trained cybersecurity specialists, who are proficient at preserving data. An excellent cybersecurity specialist must possess extensive skills before building a career in the domain.
This is a comprehensive guide that will help you to build your career as a cybersecurity specialist. Read on…
What is cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is a way of protecting networks and computer systems from digital attacks. These digital attacks disclose, damage and steal digital data.
From government sectors and financial organisations to large multinational companies, all stand in need of cybersecurity to protect their data from any sort of data breach and digital attacks. Hence, engineers, security testers and pen testers are being hired to protect a company from such attacks.
Importance of cybersecurity in the modern online world
As the entire world is heading towards an online generation, various businesses, banks and many other sectors are comprehending the importance of cybersecurity. Hence, the usage of cybersecurity systems has undergone an enormous hike. Here are some reasons why cybersecurity is important:
- Cybersecurity helps to detect and eliminate threats from a network and computer system. It provides a digital shield to the data as well as software. This digital shield or protection has made surfing easier on the internet for employees.
- Cybersecurity prevents cyberattacks. Notably, cyberattacks are harmful as much data gets stolen by hackers. To prevent cyberattacks, cybersecurity activities implement a strong solution to the existing security framework by assessing it. This ensures the security of the network.
- The employees’ productivity rate increases as cybersecurity activities protect the data and provide a safe space for them to surf the internet without any risk of cyberattacks.
- Cybersecurity also prevents the entry of viruses that slow down the speed of an entire computer system.
Who can start a career as a cybersecurity specialist?
- One who has earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science or any other field similar to computer science
- Or, anyone who has earned certification in cybersecurity from any prestigious online course
- The one who possesses a wide understanding of different forms of endpoint security as well as firewalls
- Someone who has knowledge of various languages like Java, C++, Python, Node, PowerShell, Ruby and Go
- A person who is up to date with the knowledge of the newest tricks and tactics used by hackers and also knows about the latest trends in cybersecurity.
Sectors hiring cybersecurity professionals
There are numerous industries or sectors, where one would join as a cybersecurity specialist. A few handful examples of such industries are:
- Banks – The banking industry is always prone to cyberattacks. Banks use the internet and hence, they have to face great threats from cybercriminals in this advanced society. If any bank faces a data breach, then it has to face a huge amount of loss.
- Government – The development of cybersecurity in the government sector is inadequate. Although the development is lagging, this does not mean a government doesn’t require a cybersecurity specialist to protect its data from cyberattacks. Hence, the government is hiring many cybersecurity specialists who are well equipped as well as trained.
- Healthcare – It is one of the sectors that is required to safeguard its data from getting stolen by cybercriminals. Therefore, this is another sector that is rapidly hiring fresh cybersecurity specialists.
- Law – Advocates and lawyers can also get themselves trained with cybersecurity courses so that they can handle cases that have cybersecurity breaches involved in them.
Various career options available for cybersecurity specialists
Cybersecurity is not a small field. Contrary to our thoughts, it is quite an enormous field with many different job titles. One can choose his/her path and role. In the below-mentioned list are some roles that a cybersecurity specialist has to play:
- Network security engineer: These roles are generally found in large companies. These people must manage the security of their offices through firewalls.
- Security architect: The work of designing, constructing and managing the implementation of a network is on the shoulder of a security architect.
- Cryptographic: To ensure privacy, these people are given the part of encrypting important and sensitive information.
- Malware analyst: In this profile, a person’s job is related to malware and digging it.
- Cybersecurity engineers: Their role is to defeat cyberthreats. They implement new network solutions by designing and developing them.
- Cloud security engineers: Their role is to provide security, especially for cloud-based platforms.
- Penetration testers: They are ethical hackers. Their job is to legally hack software systems to find out their vulnerabilities.
Skills cybersecurity personnel ought to possess
- Cybersecurity specialists must possess the skills of problem solving and along with that they must have knowledge of securities that are used across various platforms.
- They must work with a technical aptitude attitude and should give attention to every minor detail.
- One must learn the basic/foundation of cyber forensics skills.
- Also, one must have a clear idea of hacking and must be keen to know more about the sector.
- Cybersecurity specialists should also know the art of time management.
- They must have good community skills and the capacity to think something out of the box or unique.
Conclusion
Almost every company requires cybersecurity personnel in this modern technological world. This is why the salary of a cybersecurity specialist is quite high. It is always the right time to start a career in cybersecurity if you have the proper degree, experience and skills. So, to receive a great cybersecurity job offer, one needs to get enrolled in a reputable online cybersecurity course, covering the basics and advanced knowledge of the domain along with ethical hacking.
Also Read: What Is Cybersecurity Compliance?