How to Get Into a Career in Cyber Security: An Easy 4 Step Guide

Introduction

Career in Cyber Security has been one of the hottest choices for learners for many years now. From hacking to data breaches, ever since the dawn of the tech world, companies around the world have been continuously hiring Cyber Security personnel to avoid being one of the victims. However, this grim situation came with something good to offer – it has opened up massive opportunities for passionate professionals willing to enter the field and prevent cybercrimes. Cyber Security is also one of the significant challenges in the contemporary world, owing to the complexity of the daily evolving technology.

If you are looking to get into the field and don’t know how to start a career in cybersecurity, here’s a detailed guideline for you. Through this blog, you’ll learn:

1. What is Cyber Security?
2. Various Cyber Security Career Options
3. How To Start A Career In Cyber Security?
4. Here’s Why A Career In Cyber Security Is The Best Option For You!

1. What is Cyber Security?

Cyber Security refers to protecting data from theft or any other damage. As a domain, Cyber Security is becoming important due to the increasing use of computer systems, the internet, and other wireless networks such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

As a Cyber Security specialist, one is responsible for monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to security events, threats, and vulnerabilities during the development stages of software systems, networks, and data centers. They are also responsible for building firewalls into network infrastructures to disallow any unknown threat. Professionals on the Cyber Security career path are also expected to suggest security measures for any information and must design various strategies and defensive systems against intruders.

2. Various Cyber Security Career Options

• Network Security Engineer: A Network Security Engineer is responsible for playing an essential part in monitoring, deploying, and configuring the network and the security-related to hardware and software. This includes monitoring firewalls, internet routers, network monitoring tools, and virtual private systems.

• Information Security Analyst: Information Security Analyst is incredibly important in today’s vigil business environment, where most people heavily rely on information systems. An Information Security Analyst’s job is to secure the information networks and systems of organizations. The Information Security Analyst is also responsible for monitoring and responding to computer network threats.

• Cyber Security Engineer: Cyber Security Engineer is responsible for designing and implementing secure network solutions to defend against hackers, cyber-attacks, and other persistent threats. This job also requires one to assess an organization’s workflows and anticipate any future issues to avoid big problems.

• Application Security Engineer: Application Security Engineers help app developers to follow a Secure Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) process. The application security engineers are responsible for adopting safe application design and techniques. These include providing strong authentication and authorization and employing secure sessions to prevent ungranted access.

• IT Security Specialist: As an IT Security Specialist, you will generally be responsible for designing, testing, and implementing the IT security solutions at an organization. The job involves developing automated scripts that can provide intrusion detection, spyware, and malware detection services.

3. How To Start A Career in Cyber Security?

The Cyber Security career paths can be tricky for newcomers due to the rapidly evolving industry. But, don’t worry. Here’s the Cyber Security career roadmap that is necessary to be followed in order to build a sturdy career in Cyber Security.

• Hard Skills

The essential skills for a Cyber Security career are hard skills. Hard skills are the ones you will already have in you if you’re from a technical background. This technical background comes from obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Information Security or a related area in Computer Science. Your basic technological knowledge should include Java programming, C, C++, and PHP skills. You must know how to defend against SQL injections if you’re a web developer, which will turn out to be useful for you as a Cyber Security developer. If you’re a software engineer, you should know how to alleviate feebleness in software, which you can use as a security engineer.

• Soft Skills

Soft skills also play an essential part while communicating with anyone in the Cyber Security career, and not just that, they are necessary for every field. For example, in your Cyber Security career, you should be able to convey technical issues in a non-technical way to other colleagues, as the work is in close coordination with the stakeholders and other groups related to the matters that may not possess technical knowledge.

• Cyber Security Experience & Resume Building

Many employers also require Cyber Security career seekers to have prior work experience in Information Security or a related field. It is highly suggested that one take up internships and short term work experiences to secure a better job opportunity.

Here are a few of the specializations you can gain to build a robust resume for your Cyber Security career:

• Blue Team and Red Team Specializations: Blue Team specializes in defensive Cyber Security and Red Team specializes in offensive technologies in Cyber Security.
• Cloud Computing: Cloud Computing is much prevalent these days, where people store resources such as files, servers, and applications on the internet. The security of Cloud Computing is also something that you must learn.
• Database Modelling: Database modeling or designing programs will help you understand database concepts. It tells the pursuer how data elements interrelate.

When it comes to certification, always choose the one that offers you a complete package with hands-on experience. For that matter, you can check out HackerU and Jigsaw Academy’s Master Certificate in Cyber Security Red Team and Master Certificate in Cyber Security Blue Team programs, the only PG programs of their kind in India. 

4. Here’s Why A Career In Cyber Security Is The Best Option For You!

Is cybersecurity a good career? Absolutely! If you are a cybergeek and have an IT background, you will have the upper hand in the Cyber Security career. Cyber Security as a career is not only exciting but also one of the safest career options in these challenging times in the competing world. According to Mordor Intelligence, the Cyber Security market was at $161.07 billion in 2019; the market is expected to reach $363.05 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 14.5% during the years 2020-2025.

And, if that’s not enough to excite you to pursue a career in Cyber Security, then this data should definitely do. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobs in the IT sector is projected to register a 37% growth from 2012–2022— this is at a much faster rate than the average for all other jobs, the department said.

The pay grade is marvelous, and there is always room for growth in this vast field. According to the professional network Linkedin, an average annual salary for a Cyber Security analyst career path starts roughly at INR 4.20 Lakhs per year. It can go up to INR 9 Lakhs and more. 

An IT professional learns new things every day, every minute. A Cyber Security career can guarantee that you will never be bored of it as there’s always a new puzzle to be solved. How much more thrill could one ask for in a career?

So, have you made up your mind to make a career in Cyber Security? Visit our Master Certificate in Cyber Security (Red Team) for further help. It is the first program in offensive technologies in India and allows learners to practice in a real-time simulated ecosystem, that will give you an edge in this competitive world.