Why now is the right time to choose a career as Cyber Security Analyst

By Varul Arora

Cyberattacks are becoming more and more common, making it difficult without the risk for smaller organisation’s to neglect their Cyber Security. As firms face greater threats in the Cyber Security arena, they are looking forward to hiring professionals who can take charge of their security and make the organisation safer.

If anyone is interested in taking up a career in Technology, Cyber Security can be a career choice. The demand for Cyber Security professionals is increasing and growth in this domain is impressive to entice anyone. With the spread of COVID-19, most of the people started working from home, and the graph of cyber-attacks has spiked exponentially. Amid this crisis, Cyber Security professionals are needed in the organisations to secure their machines, servers, networks, etc., from cybercriminals. There are many important things you should know before choosing Cyber Security as a career and what it takes to be a Cyber Security Analyst.

Importance of Cyber Security

Now and then, we are getting the news of data breaches and cybercrime. Recently, OLX cybercrime was reported all over India. A person tends to buy stuff and sends QR code for payment and wipes of the seller’s bank account, earning Rs 5-6 lakh per month. People involved in technology or not, due to the pandemic, everyone knows the importance of Cyber Security. But still, many organisations are slowly adopting Cyber Security solutions such as SIEM Solutions, etc., or Cyber Security framework (NIST, ISO 27001 etc).

Job Profile of Cyber Security Analyst

Cyber Security Analysts have a variety of tasks to perform to protect companies’ network infrastructure, nodes, end-points, etc. They need to follow up with the threat database and need to monitor the organisation’s network. This may include the following but not limited to:

• Reporting and documenting the breaches and researching new Cyber Security trends
• Identifying potential vulnerabilities and simulating security attacks
• Understanding of information security components, principles, practices, and procedures
• Understanding of general IT architecture infrastructure: Unix/Windows, networking devices, database, application servers, virtualisation, basic networking configuration
• Develop security standards and best practices for their organisation
• Recommend security enhancements to management or senior IT staff
• Help computer users when they need to install or learn about new security products and procedures
• Work with the security team to help develop security policies and implement them
• Liaise with colleagues and management around Cyber Security issues and strategy.

In case of a successful attack, Cyber Security experts will also prepare for trouble, developing contingency plans to safeguard the company and try to mitigate the attack. Owing to the increasing use of new technologies and tactics by cybercriminals, people working as Cyber Security analysts needs to be aware to create a strong defence against the criminals.

Important Skills of Cyber Security Analyst

Cyber Security Analysts need a healthy blend of both technical and soft skills. Basic skills need to work as a Cyber Security Analyst are as follows, but not limited to:

• Information systems
• Risk assessment and management
• Cryptography
• Unix/Linux concepts and architecture
• Basic networking concepts
• Malware analysis

Becoming a Cyber Security Analyst

The major question, “How do you become a successful Cyber Security Analyst?”, given that the area of Cyber Security is relatively new. Many Cyber Security professionals currently in the field today, started in generalised information technology roles and later made a transition to Cyber Security. This transition route is still followed and opted by many professionals as it is recommended to have strong background knowledge in networking and general operations of the computer before working as a Cyber Security Analyst. Also, if anyone is keen working in Cyber Security, go for a Master in Cyber Security or information security then directly work in this field.

Cyber Security Job Outlook

Cyberattacks are becoming more and more common, making it difficult without the risk for smaller organisation’s to neglect their Cyber Security. As firms face greater threats in the Cyber Security arena, they are looking forward to hiring professionals who can take charge of their security and make the organisation safer.

The employment in Cyber Security and information security domain is expected to increase by 32% during the next 10 years, which is significantly much higher than the average from all other professions. There would be a high demand for Cyber Security and information security analysts. Cyberattacks have risen in frequency and it will be important for researchers to come up with creative ways to prevent hackers from stealing sensitive information or causing computer network problems.

Faced with increasing Cyber Security risks, banks and financial institutions, as well as other forms of companies, would need to improve their Cyber Security and information security capabilities. Furthermore, as the healthcare sector increases the use of electronic medical records, it is becoming more important to safeguard the privacy of patients and to protect personal data. More security analysts for information are likely to be needed to build the protections that will address patient concerns.

The usage of information security analysts is expected to rise 55% over the next decade in computer system design and related services. The growing acceptance by small and medium-sized enterprises of cloud services and an increase in Cyber Security threats would build demand for managed security service providers in this market.

About the Author:

Varul Arora is a founder of the UK-based startup TISEC. He completed MSc in Applied Cyber Security with one-year professional internship from Queen's University Belfast. He has also completed Post Graduate Diploma in Management in Supply Chain Management from Delhi School of Business.