The skills required for a career in Cyber Security

As online crime and cyber espionage increases, new job opportunities in cyber security are forever cropping up due to the need to protect enterprises.

This makes this field ever changing and a potentially interesting career to get yourself into.

Here, we will take a look at the type of skills that you may need to make a go of a cyber career.

Lets start at the top of the ladder

If you have in depth cyber security experience then consider the top job of Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). The job will probably mean you will be managing IT and cyber security related project teams at your organisation.

The CISO will need to create and develop new strategies to help the organisation identify, mitigate and then defeat cyber-attacks.

Administrative duties will also be necessary, such involvement in the development of corporate IT security policies, plus associated procedures and even – heaven forbid – staff training sessions!

Consulting with consultants

Cyber Security Consultants will usually need to have many years of Cyber Security experience, likely gained in a wide variety of different work settings and job roles.

For instance, consultants could have been employed as cyber security architects, penetration testers or IT Security software developers. Consultants are often paid well, on a short-term basis, because they will be expected to impart their deep knowledge to other staff.

A forensic investigation

Cyber Forensic Experts would be expected to be able to analyse a whole set of different data sources. They will almost certainly have an analytical probing mind together with an almost obsessive attention to detail.

Up to date skills with the latest Machine Learning Tools and techniques may be needed to mine the vast amount of data that they may be presented with. To effectively use such data mining tools, programming skills may be necessary too.

The job ultimately necessitates the production of potential evidence, which could be used by organisations such as the police, courts of law and lawyer’s practices.

Interested in a cyber career in the military?

If you are interested in a military career then you should be aware that military cyber security is becoming more important. This means that personnel are needed to ensure that IT systems, communications and battlefield systems are kept in good order. Imagine the impact hackers could have on an army of robots or air force of autonomous drones in future. It is feasible to envisage a nations armed forces being turned against it in the worst-case scenario!

A career in military cyber security could see you pitted against other nation states, in an increasingly more frantic cyber battle!

Are you a code monkey?

Software Developers working in Cyber Security need first of all to be good coders. They will need to understand how to integrate their code into an existing IT Infrastructure too. The role would most likely cover the entire project lifecycle from development to implementation.

Penetration testers need the skills enabling them to hack into an enterprises IT systems. Their job is to find exploits across an organisations IT systems to gain access to data, just as a real world hacker would do.

Ultimately they will produce a detailed set of recommended patches, fixes and upgrade paths contained within a security audit report.

Next up, Security Auditors analyse an organisations overall IT Security. They will be searching for exploits in individual procedures, systems, processes, software or hardware that could damage an enterprises IT security. The ability to work stand-alone will be needed. In the end, a detailed audit report will be created for use by the organisations IT security staff.

If you would like to know more about todays vast array of IT and Cyber Security Jobs then check out the jobs available at cybersecurityjobs.net where you will find cyber roles and useful cyber careers advice.

There are many roles in this field available which means that, whatever your skill-set, you are sure to find a cyber security career in the UK or further abroad to suit you.