With businesses moving online and adopting cloud solutions, currently, the demand for cybersecurity is on the rise. According to the recent data collected, there are more than 500,000 jobs related to cybersecurity, last year. And the demand for qualified individuals is likely to increase in the future.
If you’re excited by the sheer demand and prospect of digital assets and technology but aren’t sure what skills are required to progress your cybersecurity career, you’re at the right place.
Those pursuing a career, in this field as a whole, will need to have a broad set of technical, communicational, and functional skills. In this post, we’ve collected a list of the top skills required to help you see what it takes to be in the cyber field.
- Network and IT Skills
First and foremost, you should know about how networking works. Being able to analyze, point, and solve high-level security issues requires solid technical skills. This includes networking skills, administration skills, as well as an understanding of how to adopt security protocols in case of cyberattacks.
Other skills required in the networking job are to have a broad understanding of how wired and wireless connection works along with implementation, troubleshooting, maintenance, and updating information systems of such network.
- Incident Handling Skills
This is a human trait that requires experienced professionals. Quickly responding to an incident is key to ensuring you receive zero to no damage. Once the attack is stopped, the next step is to find vulnerability and traces of that attack so it won’t affect the system anymore.
This is a very crucial skill as if your organization caught you panicking, they will not have trust in you in the future. So you have to act fast, but with high precision and accuracy. Other skills include creating an effective backup plan to reduce the risk of server downtime.
- Analytical Skills
Analysis is an essential part of cybersecurity job that employees the task of examining computer systems, assessing risks, foresee problems, and considering a solution to detect any cyberattacks.
This not only requires technical skills in networking but also complex cyber threats, problem-solving, critical thinking, and risk analyses. In short, Analytical skills are the core of any cybersecurity job – The more you sharpen it, the better.
- Auditing Skills
Every now and then, you’re required to create an audit report to foresee and check the system performance and see how you can best improve it. IT auditors conduct security and system audit reports at the organization level.
Auditing uncovers a lot of vulnerabilities in the system, both by people and technology. And if there’s a potential risk involved with this vulnerability, it should be addressed at the very time. Processing auditing skills means not only having a basic system infrastructure, and risk management, it also means having exceptional communication and interpersonal skills.
- Threat Intelligence Skills
Security professionals also need to evaluate threats and their associated loopholes to see if they will affect the system or not. For this, most companies invest in tools that identify such threats, but they are useless if there’s not an experienced professional handling them.
Finding the right person will properly analyze, mitigate, and rank the threat discovered. Once it’s fully assessed, it will be removed from the system and new protocols will be set to further prevent it.
- Forensics Skills
Forensic analysis is an important part of the cybersecurity job. There are different tools that recover damaged, deleted, or otherwise manipulated data from a range of devices such as flash drives, tablets, computers, and phones.
A digital forensic professional is required to have a sound knowledge of data interpretation and presentation skills to create a solid case in a court of law.
- Development, Security, Operations (DevSecOps) Skills
This is an advanced-level skill that when fully grasped will help phase your cybersecurity career to a whole new level. In this skillset, additional security is installed into the system during the design and development phase resulting in less vulnerability during the phase of launch.
Development, Security, and operations skills are tied to operation knowledge, programming languages, and automation tools around developing a secure product. Collaboration, teamwork, and communication skills are also important to create a better software environment.
- Cloud Security
These professionals are responsible for building an infrastructure that enables a secure interaction between the cloud and the application. More organizations look at cloud security to store and run application data. This covers implementing new policies and technologies that protect devices across the network.
People with experience and knowledge manage big platforms like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform.
- Understanding of Hacking
To protect the infrastructure of an organization, you’ll need to think from both sides. That’s why cybersecurity professionals must first learn how to “ethically hack”. Essentially, you can call yourself a hacker, but as a core to understand how your organization’s system could be breached.
- Attention to Detail
Often mentioned in the soft skill category, being able to protect an organization from cyber attacks requires high attention to detail, to effectively detect loopholes and take appropriate risks. You’ll be most likely responsible for auditing the network and will need to be able to quickly take action when required.
Conclusion
The cybersecurity industry has seen massive growth, especially in the last 2 years. It now offers promising career growth and a lot of opportunities. And since there’s a shortage of experienced professionals, it is one of the best times to enter the market and land a high-paying job.
Moreover, the industry is evergreen. The network department would always require your services, whether it’s about creating an audit report or policies for the new system. With the increase in the use of the internet, there’s a continuous need for cybersecurity experts, making the future more stable than before.