Why Should You Look Into A Cybersecurity Career?

Introduction

• According to Forbes magazine, the cybersecurity job market will Mrise to more than $170 billion in just four years. Making it not just one of the fastest-growing employment categories in I.T., but also one that offers six-figure wages security, and lots of opportunities for advancement.
• Cybersecurity was ranked ninth on a list of the top 100 careers by U.S. News & World Report last year.
• According to a poll conducted by Cert magazine, most jobs in the industry pay well over $100,000 (Forbes says that this figure can reach $300,000 in large American cities). From New York to San Francisco, top specialists can expect to make significantly more than an anesthesiologist.

What’s the good news? The industry’s job openings aren’t falling quickly enough.

• Bureau of Labor Statistics says over 200,000 cybersecurity jobs are available in the United States alone.
• According to Cisco, the figure is closer to 1 million in the United States and 6 million worldwide.

What is the best way to start in cyber security?

Go to the CompTIA Cybersecurity Hub for critical trends, insights, and tools to help you succeed as an I.T. security professional.

Fewer candidates, more jobs

According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of a cyber breach has risen to $3.8 million, making it a real consideration for company leaders who may have previously tried to ignore the issue. Chairman and founder of the Poneman Institute, Dr. Larry Poneman, says:

“We identified three significant explanations for the cost’s continued rise based on our field research:

• The repeatability of cyber attacks increases, as is the expense of resolving them.
• The cost of losing clients due to a data breach is increasing.
• In forensic and investigative activities, assessments, and crisis team management, more businesses face increasing costs.

More specialists must prevent breaches before they happen, with more money and data at stake, not to mention reputations. According to Stanford University, cybersecurity jobs are rising at nearly four times other IT-related jobs. Indeed, in the next three years, it is predicted that these jobs will more than double.

Some organizations, such as Palo Alto Networks in Silicon Valley, are recruiting more women into an industry traditionally dominated by men to ensure that there are enough experts to fill the seats they will create every day. According to a recent company-wide study, women make up a quarter of the cybersecurity workforce at Palo Alto. Women make up around 10% to 15% of the cybersecurity profession nationwide.

Additionally, attempts are must to recruit younger and non-white I.T. professionals and create innovative ways to reach more youthful kids with STEM education (STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). According to research, children exposed to STEM at a young age are more likely to be interested in related disciplines, such as cybersecurity.

Diverse abilities can assist you in obtaining that desired position.

Because of the increased demand for better and more digital security solutions, Heather Engel, executive vice president of Sera-Brynn, a cybersecurity firm in Suffolk, Virginia, noted that nearly every new job in the I.T. field deals with cybersecurity on some level. These efforts are increasingly noticing how employees utilize and transmit data within the organization and how they use mobile devices while on the road. Because data has wings, it’s more vulnerable to hackers.

“Mobile devices, social media communications, and general data protection are all things companies must be cautious about,” Engel argues. “All signs point to sustained cybersecurity expenditure, but there is a demand for people with more diverse backgrounds than firms are looking for right now.”

Cybersecurity experts come from various backgrounds, not all of which are IT-related. “Companies will require individuals who understand risks, legal and financial elements of data management, compliance auditors, and technical expertise” to manage their security.

Sera-primary Brynn focuses on the increasingly harmful and expensive cyber threats that are at the heart of data breaches in industries ranging from finance to national government. Organizations from the world’s top 500 cybersecurity firms offer a variety of security solutions. Professionals with a variety of backgrounds, according to Engel, are often vital team members in the fight against this crime, which has an impact on so many aspects of the digital world.

“The more you understand how cybersecurity decisions affect business operations. Such as finance, logistics, human resources, and sales,” Engel added, “the better prepared you will be to offer recommendations that will genuinely improve security rather than just check a box.”

She claims that today’s cybersecurity experts must understand networks and how data transfers from one location to another to execute offensive and defensive measures properly. “As a result, improving or retaining those abilities is critical to prepare for or furthering a career in I.T. security,” she added, adding that solid communication skills (both verbal and written) are also required. “You will have an adamant time gaining the resources you need to execute your job if you can’t effectively articulate the threats to someone who isn’t a cyber security professional,” Engel stated.

Cybersecurity recruiting trends to watch

Given that one-third of cybersecurity positions require industry certification, CompTIA’s role has grown increasingly vital. Existing I.T. professionals can benefit from these qualifications, especially because many jobs demand some accreditation. There are much more job openings than qualified candidates to fill them.

The majority of the most recent job advertisements demand at least a bachelor’s degree and three years of experience. Because of the increase in federal contractors, Washington, D.C., the Virginia region (where many government offices are situated), and Maryland and Colorado have the most positions available. More businesses are increasingly taking on the responsibility of in-house training to guarantee that their employees have the skills they require to battle the most severe threats. If a competent staff helps avert breaches that can cost millions of dollars, not to mention brand damage, the financial investment in training and knowledge pays off.

CSIS (The Center for Strategic and International Studies) in Santa Clara, California, and Intel Security in Santa Clara, California, indicated that the cybersecurity workforce is in short supply worldwide. Insights into intrusion detection, safe software development, and attack mitigation are the three most crucial skills recruiters are searching for right now, but they’re hard to overcome.

“To address this upcoming workforce crisis, we need to foster new education models, increase the availability of CompTIA training opportunities, and deliver deeper automation so that talent be put to the best use on the front lines,” said Chris Young, general manager, senior vice president, of Intel Security Group. “Finally, we must ensure that our ranks are well-balanced.”

With ransomware, credit card theft, political attacks, and cloud wars on the rise, the demand for more brilliant cybersecurity experts will grow. “Continued cybersecurity breaches and state-sponsored cyber espionage will lead to surges in cybersecurity spending on both workforce and software solutions,” Andrew Borene, an IBM executive with the company’s i2 Safer Planet team, warned earlier this year.

Conclusion

Go to the Cybersecurity Awareness Training & Phishing Simulation Solution for critical trends, insights, and tools to help you succeed as an I.T. security professional. As a Gold Training Partner of CompTIA, NetCom Learning provides a wide range of CompTIA training and certification programs that address the high-impact training needs of information security professionals, from beginner to management and executive levels.

According to Job Market Intelligence research, cyber security experts earn up to $6,500 more per year than their I.T. counterparts.