A "secure" option

Roy Zur

Cybersecurity is one of the hottest career options now. As the number of cyber attacks and security breaches have grown significantly and impacted companies, it has created a massive opportunity for aspirants who are willing to enter the cybersecurity domain. The demand for jobs in cybersecurity growth is unparalleled to any other technology domain. Asia Pacific has the largest chunk of opportunities in cybersecurity globally. The increase in demand for professionals means that companies across India are facing a lack of skilled cybersecurity personnel, especially at the entry-level. 

 So, let us now take a look at some of the career options for those who are passionate about cybersecurity:

IT Security Consultant: Becoming an IT security consultant is referred to as a stepping stone within the industry as they are hired by companies to protect their assets in the most cost-efficient way. To be hired as an IT security consultant, the candidate needs a qualified / professional certification in CS, cybersecurity, or related fields. 

 Security Systems Administrator: A security systems administrator takes care of the security infrastructure in companies. They need to install, maintain, troubleshoot different security systems including data and network. To work as a security systems administration, the candidate needs a qualified / professional certification in a CS field. 

 IT Security Engineer: Security engineering has to deal with network protection. They maintain the systems, perform security checks to distinguish possible weaknesses along with creating logs to keep track of any mishaps. The candidate needs a Bachelor’s degree in engineering or a qualified/ professional certification of CS to become an IT security engineer. 

 Ethical Hacker: The ethical hacker looks out for loopholes in the IT systems to prevent damage beforehand. They need to discover all the issues before anyone attacks. A candidate can become an ethical hacker if they hold a qualified/ professional certification in cybersecurity. 

 Compliance and Auditing: To step into this domain of cybersecurity, zero programming skills are required. The students can learn about the underlying technology and business models. Different business models can be protected seamlessly while ensuring that new regulations don’t hinder company innovation.

 The other career opportunities include: 

•  Forensics analyst/ investigator 
• Incident analyst/ responder 
• Chief information security officer 
• Security auditor
• Security director 
• Source code auditor 
• Cryptographer

 Skills required to choose a career in cybersecurity 

 Apart from a qualified/ professional certification, the candidate needs soft skills too, that helps him to grow in cybersecurity career. To shine in your career, we recommend that you get practical training through ‘Globally Certified Bootcamps’ that offer the most updated cybersecurity training of the international level and also provide soft skills training. Some of these bootcamps enable you for entry-level jobs immediately after the completion program with an over 95% placement rate.

 Problem Solver: If you want to enter the cyber world, it is important to be a problem solver. Cybersecurity issues create chaos in the world. It is the responsibility of the professionals to solve the cyber issue and safeguard the data. With critical thinking power, you can shine as an incident responder. 

 Enthusiast: It is important to take up more responsibility in solving cybersecurity issues. You can read about the stories of an online fraudster and keep ahead of the game. If you are an enthusiast, then penetration tester is a suitable job portfolio for you. 

 Quick learner: You need to be curious about the new technologies if you want to save a company from cyber-attacks. Learn about the different tools that are developed to assist security professionals. You have to be quick in understanding the problem and applying the right strategy to resolve it.

 Bottom Line 

 These days the attacks are very sophisticated not just in terms of technology but strategy as well. It is important to upskill yourself to get the nerves of thebetter of attackers. You need to be agile for threat hunting, forensic analysis, or even malware reverse engineering. Aspirants, who want to step into the world of cyber-crime, need hands-on skills and require a different thought process. 

The writer is CEO, ThriveDX SaaS