How do I become a cyber security professional?

We all are experiencing times of developing technology and increased dependency on the technology has given rise to cybercrimes. So, in a world where technology has become an inseparable part of life, gaining knowledge of cybersecurity can be of huge benefit. Are you thinking of career options in the field of IT security? Even if you pick this field to start your career, it might be a good field to make your first move. A company always demand professionals who can really prove to be an asset for the organization and who have proper knowledge of operations that are required by the organization. 

There can be a lot of ways through which you can learn about cybersecurity. You can go for certifications, degrees or even learn at your own pace by using the online resources or libraries. But before you decide to step into any field it is essential to do a fact check regarding that field. You must be completely aware of what salary, benefits, working conditions and everything else the domain has to offer you. So, here we will provide you with complete information about what this domain has to offer to its candidates. Let us begin by looking at who a cybersecurity professional is?

Let us know about cybersecurity and start preparing!

Who is a cyber security professional?

Cybersecurity analysts are responsible for planning and carrying out security measures for protecting a company’s computer networks and systems. They keep their eyes on threats and then monitor their organization’s networks for any breaches in security. 

Concepts covered

The following concepts are covered while learning about cybersecurity –

• Firstly, Cyber Technology
• In addition, Cyber Ethics
• Also, Cyber Crimes
• Moreover, Cyber Crime Techniques
• Furthermore, Prevention & Protection
• Also, Cyber Forensics
• In addition, Cyber Crime Investigation
• Lastly, Cyber Law

Intended Audience

This field is not specific to any particular kind of qualification. However, anyone having the basic technological knowledge and knowledge of cybersecurity can try building his or her career into the same.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Firstly, Cybersecurity analysts are responsible for updating organization to the latest security and technology developments.
• In addition, They plan for disaster recovery and further create contingency plans in the event of any security breaches.
• Furthermore, They also monitor for attacks, intrusions, and unusual, unauthorized, or illegal activity as well as test and evaluate security products.
• Additionally, They also monitor identity and access management as well as monitor for abuse of permissions by authorized system users.
• Moreover, Cybersecurity professionals also design new security systems or upgrade existing ones and they use advanced analytic tools for determining emerging threat patterns.
• Next, they identify potential weaknesses and implement measures that include firewalls and encryption.
• Lastly, they maintain an information security risk register and assist with internal and external audits relating to information security. And also monitor and respond to ‘phishing’ emails and ‘pharming’ activity.

Let us look at skills required for being a cyber security professional.

Additional Skills Required

This field is not a rigid field which means it does not require any specified set of prerequisites. But, as this is a specialized field, it is required to have some of the skills apart from the knowledge that you need to have of the subject, that can help you get an edge over others. These skills are also essential to maintain essential work habits and a methodology to carry out your work systematically. These skills are –

• Firstly, Eagerness to dig into technical questions and examine them from all perspectives.
• Additionally, Enthusiasm and a high degree of adaptability.
• Furthermore, Strong analytical and diagnostic abilities.
• Moreover, A current understanding of common web threats and vulnerabilities.
• Last but not least, Maintaining awareness and knowledge of contemporary standards, practices, procedures and methods

Why Should I learn about Cyber security?

For companies looking to bolster their team’s skillsets, information security training is a necessity. IT departments consistently endure the growing challenge of applying the best possible technology and practices to protect company information, and cybersecurity knowledge ensures their employees are well-versed in the latest security best practices and know-how to guard against attacks. 

Let us now look at what are some ways through which you can become a cyber security professional.

How to become a cyber security professional?

There are many ways through which you can become a cyber security professional. Let us look at some of them –

• The first and most common way is – Getting a professional degree into the IT sector, this can help you to get an edge over other people as you will have a professional credential. But you will still need to have a specialization depicting that you know about cyber security.
• Another way is getting certifications. You can get a lot of certification from trusted vendors. This will serve as cherry on the cake if you already have knowledge about the technical field.

• Additionally, You can learn by doing. You can do various internships and apprenticeships to get yourself tested after you learn from the books or what ever resource you have used to learn.
• Last but not the least, You can try the online resources such as self paced courses or self practice labs which can help you implement your learnings.

Importance of getting certified

There are numerous other ways through which you can learn. Always remember to never limit yourself to a resource or never limit you learning. This is because this field is subject to quick updating and you need to have insight of all the latest updates if you want to get ahead of others.

From the above mentioned all the resources, Certifications, are the best resource to learn. This is because the certifications allow you to learn at your own pace and provide you the maximum learning in a short duration of time. The certification exam only takes a few hours and show employers that you’ve passed a tough exam based on internationally recognized standards, thus proving your competence and commitment to the industry. One such certification is Certified Cyber Security Analyst by Vskills. Let us have a look at that.

Vskills Certified Cyber Security Analyst

Vskills Cybersecurity Certification covers the fundamental concepts of cybersecurity as well as helps candidates to learn the fundamentals of cybersecurity and forensics.

Further, this will cover various areas in cybercrime, IT Act 2000, cyber offenses, wireless devices cybercrime, phishing, keyloggers, backdoors, SQL injection, DDoS attacks, identity theft, computer, and wireless forensics, cyberterrorism, social media marketing, incident handling, and privacy. However, Cyber Security Analysts are in great demand. That is to say,  companies specializing in IT or cybersecurity are constantly hiring skilled Cyber Security Analysts.

Test Details

• Duration: 60 minutes
• No. of questions: 50
• Maximum marks: 50, Passing marks: 25 (50%).
• There is NO negative marking in this module.
• Mode: Online exam.

Benefits of Certification

• Firstly, Government Certification
• In addition, Certification valid for life
• Also, Lifelong e-learning access
• Furthermore, Free Practice Tests
• Moreover, Get tagged as ‘Vskills Certified’ On Monsterindia.com
• Also, Get tagged as ‘Vskills Certified’ On  Shine.com

Let us now look at the content details of the certification.

Content Outline

The exam revolves around the following objectives which will help you to learn and grasp the concepts easily –

Cyber Technology

• Networking
• Wireless LAN Basics
• Web Basics
• Website
• Information Security Principles
• Cryptography
• Public Key Infrastructure
• Electronic Signature
• Access Management
• User Access Management
• Cloud Computing

Cyber Ethics

• Privacy
• License, Trademark and Copyright
• Intellectual Property
• Freedom of Speech
• Hacking
• Internet Fraud

Cyber Crimes

• firstly, Cyber Crimes
• also, Cyber Criminals Types
• in addition, Cyber Crime Motives
• Psychological Profiling
• Sociology of Cyber Criminals
• Social Engineering
• Cyber Stalking
• Botnets
• Attack Vector
• Malware
• Phishing
• Identity Theft (ID Theft)
• Cyber Terrorism

Cyber Crime Techniques

• Proxy Servers and Anonymizers
• Password Cracking
• Keyloggers and Spywares
• Worms
• Trojan Horse
• Steganography
• DoS and DDoS Attacks
• SQL Injection
• Buffer Overflow
• Reverse Engineering
• Vulnerability Research
• Network Attacks
• WLAN Hacking
• Web Server Attacks
• VoIP Hacking & Countermeasures
• SMS Forging

Prevention and Protection

• Business Continuity
• Disaster Recovery
• System Backup
• Security Assessments
• Penetration Testing
• Security Testing Tools
• Monitoring
• Intrusion Detection and Prevention
• Vulnerability Assessment (VA)
• Secure Coding
• Incident Management
• Risk Management

Cyber Forensics

• Forensic Activities
• Forensic Technologies
• Chain of Custody Concept
• Digital Forensics Life Cycle
• Digital Forensics Tools
• Forensics Analysis of E-Mail
• Network Forensics
• Computer Forensics and Steganography
• Forensics and Social Media
• Mobile Forensics
• Computer Forensic Lab
• Computer Forensic Team

Cyber Crime Investigation

• Cyber Crime Investigation Basics
• Pre-Investigation Technical Assessment
• Detection and Containment
• Digital Evidence Collection
• Evidence Preservation
• Evidentiary Reporting
• additionally, Investigating Phishing Cases
• also, Investigating Cyber Pornography Crimes
• Investigating Credit Card Fraud Cases

Cyber Law

• IT Act
• International Cyberspace Laws
• Other Law and Policy Agencies

For every exam, it is important that candidates should have all the necessary resources to start preparing with. Doing this will not only help in understanding but it will also help them to follow a sequential manner for completing the syllabus. You can also use some other resources to learn about the cyber security. Let us have a look at them.

Vskills Online Learning Tutorials

Vskills Certified Cyber Security Analyst provides candidates access to prepare for the exam using the online learning material for a lifetime. The online material for this is regularly updated. Furthermore, e-learning comes with hard copy material that helps candidates to improve and update the learning curve for getting better opportunities. Access tutorials here.

Books

Reference Books can provide an advantage to learn and understand things more accurately. For the Certified Cyber Security Analyst exam, there are various books available which you can find online or in libraries. Some of the books are as follows:

• Cybersecurity Analytics Book by David J. Marchette and Rakesh M. Verma
• Cyber Security by Nina Godbole (Author), Sunit Belapure (Author)

Practice tests

Using practice tests will help them for better preparation. By assessing yourself with these tests candidates will know about their weak and strong areas. Moreover, you improve your answering skills for getting better results. In addition, They will help you identify weak parts of your preparation and will decrease the silly mistakes. Practicing is the key to qualifying any certification exam is no different. So, make sure to practice as much as you can. You can try free practice test now!

Let us now look at the market demand and average salary for being a cyber security professional. This will help you in understanding the field better.

Market demand and Average salary

Cyber Security Analysts are in great demand. Companies specializing in IT or cybersecurity is constantly hiring skilled Cyber Security Analysts. Various public and private companies also need Cyber Security Analysts for their IT or cybersecurity departments. Certified candidates will find employment opportunities in various companies like EMC, Akamai, Citrix, Virtusa, HCL, Vmware.

Because this industry has such a high demand for individuals with corporate computer training in cybersecurity, the pay is well above average. The highest paying cybersecurity jobs vary, but Ziprecruiter found that, as of April 2019, the average cybersecurity job paid about $95,212 per year. In contrast, the average IT job made about $75,380. Clearly, cybersecurity is one of the most lucrative places to be in an already profitable field.

Let us now look at at what designations can you expect yourself after gaining sufficient knowledge in this field.

What are the Career Paths for Cyber security?

A number of different job opportunities are available to someone with cybersecurity training, including: 

• Data security administrator
• also, Information security officer
• additionally, Information security specialist
• moreover, Information systems security analyst
• subsequently, Information systems security officer
• furthermore, Information technology security analyst
• moreover, Information technology specialist
• also, Network security analyst
• Security and systems analyst

Scope

By 2020, the cyber security market is expected to grow to $170 billion. Data from Burning Glass Technologies Research from 2015 found that cyber security professionals tend to make about 9 percent more compared to other IT workers, yet there remains a lack of qualified professionals in the field. According to the 2017 Global Information Security Workforce Study (GISWS), released every two years by the Center for Cyber Safety and Education Center and ISC², the workforce gap among cybersecurity professionals is expected to reach 1.8 million by 2022.

Prepare for Job Interview

Prepare for Cyber Security job interview with our latest online interview questions, the questions are designed by experts to help you to overcome the the job interview obstacle.

Give boost to your skills by becoming a Cyber Security Professional. Hurry up and Start preparing now!