With cybercrime on the rise and vulnerabilities constantly being exposed, it is imperative that organizations take a proactive stance to protecting assets and employing skilled cybersecurity professionals. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that the number of information security jobs will increase 31% from 2019 to 2029, making it one of the fastest-growing fields. Jobs requiring cybersecurity skills continue to grow rapidly, with more than 464,420 cybersecurity job openings, according to CyberSeek. Employers, from government to Fortune 500 companies, value CompTIA as an authority in cybersecurity certifications. Because you want a security career, you will have to learn how to perform certain actions and you’ll have to gain certain skills.
Lately, more private organizations are creating cyber operations departments to respond to growing threats. These companies may hold job fairs, put on conferences and provide resources for connecting with peers and employers. Consider some of the following professional organizations for cybersecurity workers. In many ways, your job is that of an online detective tasked with following any clues that lead to a potential entry point for hackers or to the vulnerability enabling an attack in progress. This position nets one of the highest salaries in the security sector, but it may vary by state.
How much do cybersecurity professionals make?
The pathway is intended to help people get into the field of cybersecurity. IT pros can enter at any point, depending on their IT experience, existing certifications or course of study. For example, if you have two years of IT security experience or equivalent knowledge, you might start with CompTIA Security+ to prove your knowledge. If you already have CompTIA Security+, you can move ahead to CompTIA CySA+, CompTIA PenTest+ or CASP+. Expert cyber security careers can be split into two types of roles; expert governance and specialist expert.
- You can choose to get an undergraduate or graduate degree in cybersecurity or a related field like computer science, but you can also get an industry certification instead—or even go the self-taught route.
- There are hundreds of free and paid course options online that might not lead to a desirable certification, but that will provide you with more theoretical and practical knowledge.
- Related fields like electrical engineering or math can also provide useful skills.
- Employers, from government to Fortune 500 companies, value CompTIA as an authority in cybersecurity certifications.
Moreover, Global Information Assurance Certification, an entity that administers information security certifications, offers credentials that measure specific knowledge and skill areas. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 35% job growth for information security analysts from 2021 to 2031. This indicates continued high demand for similar cybersecurity professionals.
You may have heard so many times that the career you are entering is in extreme demand—the unfilled job openings number not in the thousands, but in the millions. There was a suggestion in 2020 that, by the end of 2021, there would be 3.5 million cybersecurity openings unfilled worldwide. As more and more companies realize the risk their network systems are experience every day, they begin looking for people like you to help them tighten their defenses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects a job growth rate of 32% between 2018 and 2028. IT pros can pursue CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner (CASP+) to prove their mastery of cybersecurity skills required at the 5- to 10-year experience level. CASP+ is the pinnacle of cybersecurity certifications and includes performance-based questions.
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The employment of information security analysts, which includes cybersecurity specialists, is predicted to grow 36 percent by 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. IT security specialists and cybersecurity specialists perform similar jobs. However, cybersecurity specialists usually focus on analyzing, monitoring, and responding to threats, while IT security specialists research, monitor, and install protective software. Since most businesses store financial, statistical, and customer data online, cybersecurity specialists — also called security specialists — can work in many industries. Entry-level positions often involve developing code, troubleshooting problems, and testing malware. The responsibilities of a cyber operations specialist or a cyber systems operation specialist will vary depending on the organization.
If you’re planning to become one, you should first learn exactly what type of a job this is, in what ways you can advance your career, and how you can get your foot in the computer security industry door. As a cybersecurity specialist, you will help to increase and provide security for networks, become an it security specialist learning software systems, and data centers. This is a challenging field and you’ll need to search for risks and vulnerabilities in a company’s software and hardware. Everyone should aspire to reach Stage 5 of the cyber security career path and become an expert, even if that’s not possible.
This can take the form of other, related work experience, or it can take the form of a structured internship or other formal hands-on learning. This role is critical because oftentimes data breaches come from inside the organization, either intentionally or accidentally. Others take a risk analysis track and work on explaining business risk to the CISO and top management. Some of these people come from accounting backgrounds and have worked in the accounting departments of banks and top financial firms. Instead of searching for jobs, candidates create a profile and Whitetruffle matches them with employers.
How Do Feeder Roles Assist You?
Keep in mind that most certification exams require significant preparation, and some include experience requirements. Cybersecurity professionals enable security in IT infrastructure, data, edge devices, and networks. Out of the lot, many are programmers, systems or network administrators, or have backgrounds in math and statistics.
Cybersecurity Specialist Jobs: The Path to a Cybersecurity Career
The best way to jumpstart a career in cyber operations is to study cybersecurity or related fields. Dozens of universities offer cybersecurity degrees and a number of them are starting to offer operations degrees including traditional on-site bachelor’s programs and online cyber degree programs. Cyber threats are constantly changing, so cybersecurity professionals must be able to learn and adapt quickly. This growing demand has created a wide range of diverse career opportunities for cybersecurity professionals around the world. For the private sector, you can get a degree, attend cybersecurity boot camps, take courses and training, and get a recognized certificate. The key components of a cyber operations degree program will depend on the type of degree you’ll earn upon completion.
A good example of the need for cybersecurity experts is one particular massive cyber-attack on the U.S.’ government agencies. As of early 2021, one of these attacks was still being investigated for its breadth and severity. Even worse, the targeted government agencies and intelligence communities believe that Russian hackers carried out the attack. Once you’re a college graduate and working in your chosen field, you’ll be more than ready to earn certifications if you haven’t done so already. Sometime during your final semester in school, you’ll want to start scanning job ads.
Read Top 10 Careers in Cyber Security (and Which Is Right for You?) to learn about your potential careers. The cyber security career path will take you from an entry-level newbie to a domain-level expert. Before looking at the five stages that will take you there, it’s important to understand what is required to navigate the cyber security career path. You can pursue a variety of cybersecurity certificates, which will almost certainly be part of your continuous education as a cyber security professional. To better your chances for career growth, a relevant master’s degree provides the education, learning community, and professional network certificates that less rigorous training options don’t offer.
In contrast, network security focuses on vulnerabilities in the connections between devices. Payscale reports an average annual cybersecurity salary of around $92,000, and these wages typically increase with experience. These professionals also educate coworkers on best practices, as breaches may occur accidentally or deliberately by bad actors within their companies. Cybersecurity specialists must remain up to date with changes in the field by researching emerging threats and fixes.