Cyber security engineer jobs exist to protect company networks. Cybercriminals look for new ways every day to invade mainframes and steal sensitive data. This data often includes payment and identity information. Therefore, cyber security (also called “cybersecurity”) engineers have the responsibility to build, assess, manage, and maintain a proper security network.
As you might imagine, as more companies transfer and store data over their network, the demand for cybersecurity engineers will only grow over the next decade. Read on to learn about the skills and responsibilities, as well as the qualifications, you need to become a cybersecurity engineer.
Cyber Security Engineer Jobs: Qualifications
Whether you’re an employer seeking an engineer or hoping to enter this field yourself, you need to know the qualifications that make a successful cybersecurity specialist. As for college degrees, those who majored in computer science, systems engineering, or other IT-related fields garner the most attention.
After college, an aspiring cybersecurity engineer needs work experience. This should entail experience in incident detection and response. Therefore, experience in building and maintaining firewalls for major networks would be a huge plus.
Likewise, coding experience also comes in handy. A systems engineer will eventually be asked to build security protocols themselves. Experience in major coding languages (including Java, Ruby, Python, and C++) therefore comes highly recommended.
Cyber Security Engineer Responsibilities
Assuming a candidate is qualified, what will they be asked to do on the job? A cybersecurity engineer needs to know the major trends in security and analysis. By knowing those, they will be able to assess a company’s framework. For example, they need to find its weaknesses, implement strategies, and maintain proper protocols.
Moreover, ff breaches do occur, they need experience in responding to breaches and reinstating protection. Testing vulnerabilities and security controls becomes a major part of an engineer’s day when they run a company’s network full-time.
This includes administration as well. Therefore, a cybersecurity engineer needs experience communicating with management and facilitating different departments. All of a company’s IT people report to the systems engineer. They need to be able to troubleshoot the problem and respond effectively.
Cyber Security Engineer Knowledge
Use this checklist to understand what you or your potential employee should know at the bare minimum to be a successful cybersecurity engineer:
- Working knowledge of firewalls
- Data loss prevention strategies
- Ability to conduct security audits
- Fluent in multiple coding languages
- Incident detection and response experience
- IDS/IPS maintenance experience
- Management experience coordinating multiple departments
Thus, cybersecurity engineers need skills in a variety fields. As a result, it is imperative to find the right balance of education. This applies to employers vetting potential candidates and also to candidates writing their resume.
The Takeaway
In closing, a cyber security engineer enters a competitive field with diverse expertise. Security engineering combines computer science and administration to create an indispensable role in the modern company: protecting and maintaining data processes.
More companies relying on networks for data storage every day. Therefore, these companies need people experienced in detecting flaws in their systems and initiating strategies to fix them. Being able to communicate with a team, troubleshoot protocols, and put the results of their audits into action comes as a highly desirable skill set in the next decade.
