Today no organisation can function without some sort of cybersecurity whether that be in-house or an external service. From the evidence of the rise of commercial cyber attacks taking place, no company or business can overlook this aspect in their organisation. To those that work in the industry or want to work in the industry, there are a large number of skills that are in demand for these sort of roles. In this guide we will discuss some of those skills needed to work in the field of cyber security. IF you would like to work in cyber security or are recruiting in this area, this post aims to demonstrate the skills needed to work in cyber security.
IT and Networking skills
You must have solid technical knowledge and skills for analysing and solving issues related to high-end security. Skills like System and Network Administration, adopting security controls to protect data, network, and systems from possible or potential cyber threats.
Other skills like security assessment of wired and wireless networks and implementing the latest best practices to troubleshoot, maintain, and update systems related to information systems and management.
It’s paramount in gaining basic technical knowledge for advancing in your cybersecurity career. There are plenty of Cyber Security training online you can consider if you want to upskill yourself. Some of the entry-level certifications for the Cybersecurity domain include:
- CompTIA Network+ or Security+
- Cisco CCNA, etc.
Threat Intelligence skills
It is another in-demand skill that you must acquire for a successful career in Cybersecurity. Security professionals need to identify threats and other risks that pose a danger to organisational networks or systems. Many tools are there which help professionals to discover, analyse, and handle threats effectively.
Some of the popular certifications for validating this skill are:
- CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+)
- Certified Cyber Threat Hunting Professional, etc.
Analytical skills
Analytical skills are one of the most important skills that Cybersecurity professionals must have. They must identify problems, gauge risks, and formulate solutions that could detect, prevent, respond to major cyberattacks. You also require proficiency in using security tools to identify these threats and other risks.
Analytical skills also include soft skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and persuasion skills to help organizations set up stricter security regulations and protocols.
Professionals with these skills can take on different roles like Cybersecurity Analyst, Information Security, Malware Analyst, Computer Systems Analyst.
If you have the necessary technical skills with soft skills, you can consider yourself to certify in:
- CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst
- Certified Reverse Engineering Analyst, etc.
Auditing skills
Auditors in Cybersecurity involve conducting organizational system and security audits to identify vulnerabilities and other loopholes within the system and network. You have to discover, document, test, resolve these vulnerabilities. Professionals with auditing skills uncover threats and risks that crept into the organization’s systems by employees, technology, or processes.
The professionals who wish to be Auditors in this domain must have proper knowledge of basic system infrastructure, Data Analytics, and Risk Management. You must also have soft skills like high interpersonal and communications skills that will help you present any findings to the respective technical and non-technical teams alike.
Getting certified is the easiest way to become an IT or an IS Auditor. Some of the certifications for you are:
- Cybersecurity Audit Fundamentals
- ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), etc.
Incident handling skills
Threats always emerge in an organization’s system or network. But the key is to mitigate or respond to these threats in the quickest possible time. Responding quickly doesn’t mean that you must avoid checking about the risk deeply. You must follow all the procedures like investigating deeply and offering recommendations to patch loopholes in the organizational security measures or postures.
Getting certified is the best way to validate your skills, and some of the certifications are:
- Incident Response
- Incident Response and Network Forensics
- Network Traffic Analysis for Incident Response, etc.
Forensics skills
Forensic skills are on the rise and form an important part of responding to many cyber threats. In the event of a data breach, you can use Forensic tools to recover lost data that may be damaged, or manipulated. These data can be from a range of devices like computers, laptops, mobile devices, etc.
Talking about the skills, Cybersecurity professionals in the Forensic teams must have a solid grip on investigational practices, data interpretation skills, and strong communication skills to present facts and findings in front of non-technical and technical people.
Penetration Testing skills
Pentesting is one of the most asked and in-demand skills in the domain. They help improve and tighten organisational security by using various tools and techniques to break into these secured systems and networks with prior permission to identify loopholes and patch them. Some of the famous certifications are:
- Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
- CompTIA PenTest+
- Certified Penetration Tester, etc.
Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance skills
Having solid governance, risk management, and compliance is significant to operate businesses. Professionals under this domain are expected to develop and implement various strategies and solutions that are aligned with industry regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, NIST RMF, etc.
DevSecOps skills
Application Security as a skill is booming. DevOps is already the best method to develop applications and maintain their life cycles. Adding the missing security aspect in this process will help you develop applications that are developed securely from the ground up.
Having soft skills like good communication and collaboration skills are very important in getting DevSecOps jobs other than technical skills of the DevOps domain. Try getting (ISC)2’s Certified Secure Software Lifecycle Professional and gain expertise in various programming knowledge and other automation tools.
Virtualisation and Cloud Computing skills
Most of the businesses are shifting to Cloud and are benefitting from these decisions due to reduced expenses, high availability, ability to scale up or down on-demand services. There are a variety of Cloud services like IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS. The qualified professionals have to deploy, configure, and securely manage the virtualized environment.
Some certifications that you can take a look at are:
- (ISC)2 Certified Cloud Security Professional
- AWS Certified Solutions Architect-Professional, etc.
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