Cyber security jobs (also called “cybersecurity”) continue to grow in demand and pay. This means that those who aspire to enter the field need to remain competitive. If your passions involve securing systems, weeding out and preventing data breaches, and protecting consumer information, cybersecurity may be your dream field.
Read on to learn 3 skills in demand in this competitive field, including professional experience as well as more specific skills to put you ahead of the competition. Cybersecurity jobs may require expertise, but they reward those who commit to their credentials with a high starting pay in a fast-growing field.
1. Cyber Security Job Skills
It comes with the name. Cybersecurity involves working with a company’s teams to build, update, and also maintain their security systems. This includes not only their computer network but also any system that can log into the company’s network, store information, or transfer customer and employee data. These systems include:
- Company-owned operating and computer systems
- Employee mobile devices
- Wireless and off-site networks
- A company’s cloud environment
All of these systems make up a company’s network. Each can store and transfer sensitive data, so each needs to be assessed for security and rebuilt accordingly. This is one of the main skills required in cybersecurity jobs.
2. Employee Communication
While cybersecurity may not seem like a “people job,” it involves more communication than you might think. A cybersecurity specialist must be able to assess a company’s needs and also talk with its leaders about where the company intends to be in the next few years. Therefore, the goals of new security technology have to be negotiated between the specialist that knows how to assemble the tech and the company leaders who know their own goals.
Then, these new systems have to be set up and managed by the company’s in-house IT team or other employees. The cybersecurity specialist must therefore communicate with all of them to get the company on the same page. Otherwise, breaches in security can recur, even with the new systems.
3. Computer Forensics
The field of forensics isn’t just about crime, though that factors into cybersecurity. It’s about using a rationale to think ahead. In the case of a cybersecurity specialist, they will ask certain types of forensic questions. How would someone try to hack this system? What weaknesses would they exploit? How would they try to get around my firewall?
Being able to think like this puts you ahead of hackers in an industry where they are constantly upping their game. Cybersecurity specialists both prevent and respond to data breaches. This requires a skill set similar in nature to the hackers trying to steal that data.
Hopefully, your degree in cybersecurity, information technology, or programming will put you one step ahead of them.
The Takeaway
Cyber security jobs involve several in-demand skills. The 3 named above can make a candidate stand out in a competitive field. Security skills, communication, and computer forensics will help you stand out as an applicant in a field that will experience insane growth in the next decade. These skills are the ticket to 6 figures in this highly specialized career path.