As technology evolves, so do cyber criminals algorithms, which is why more cybersecurity talent is needed.
The world is becoming more digitized every day from our homes to our workplaces. However, technology advancements bring more cyber attacks. Every day, more and more cyber criminals use advanced algorithms to spy on, access, delete, copy, and falsify user data. Cyber crime costs trillions of dollars in company damages, which increases the need for safe, secure data. Unfortunately, millions of security jobs remain unfilled throughout the world.
Cybersecurity is lucrative just like the rest of Information Technology, with an average salary of over $100,000. Almost every industry seeks cybersecurity talent to safeguard their company data against hackers. It is possible to switch to cyber security from other IT and networking fields. Many of today’s senior level professionals started in non-security fields like networking, systems, database, help desk, and programming.
Top Cybersecurity Jobs:
These are just some of the most lucrative cybersecurity jobs in great demand today. It's great to have an understanding of networks, applications and testing as a framework to begin your transition.
Application Security Architect: Monitors and repairs computer application security problems, ranging from existing applications to developing new programs.
Security Architect: Analyzes and recommends solutions for IT security threats to protect company data.
Application Security Analyst: Analyzes, recommends, and develops the best methods to protect security systems from unauthorized modification or loss. Help desk background is helpful, as it provides the ability to trouble shoot for end user support.
Cloud Engineer: Designs, plans, manages and maintains cloud computing solutions in a company. Cloud engineering careers can include architect,computing,or software roles. Bachelor’s degree and possible additional certifications are usually required.
SIEM Security Engineer: Utilizes SIEM technologies to detect and respond to security threats, incidents and vulnerabilities, and design solutions.
Learn These Skills & Get Your Foot in the Door
Many cybersecurity professionals have experience in other IT areas, from data processing to networking to development. If you already work in IT, consider doing the following to begin your transition.
· Coding: Fighting security threats requires an understanding of programming and scripting, particularly the latest ones used today. Ruby, Python, SQL, and Regular Expression are some examples of today’s most common and most popular programming technologies. Learning programming makes it easier to analyze the complex lines of code that make up security bugs.
· Further Your Education: Although many cybersecurity professionals have Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees, pursuing the non-traditional, self-taught path is becoming common. The CompTIASecurity+ global certification teaches IT networking professionals how to identify and address cybersecurity issues. The program covers core skills needed for mid-level systems administration, penetration testing, network, and security administrator roles. CompTIA also offers a mid-level Network+certification for network technicians to learn design, hardware setup,configuration, installation and troubleshooting. Business News Daily has more popular certification programs to consider.
· Cloud Storage and Security: Cloud technology has been booming since 2008, but shared servers are more vulnerable to cyber attack, such as data breaches. Companies can receive fines or be criminally charged whether or not the data breach was intentional. Jobs such as cloud engineers are in high demand for this reason. GoogleCloud, for example, offers an online course on the infrastructure and platform services. Google also has a Data Engineer and Cloud Architect course that teaches storage, Big Query, CloudSQL and other important cloud technologies.
· Build a Portfolio: Beyond pursuing an education,it’s important to have examples to show your knowledge in security. Cybersecurity is critical to all technologies from web to mobile and hardware. Google’s Vulnerability Rewards is one good place to start.