What does a Cybersecurity Specialist do? Where to study? How much is the salary of a Cybersecurity Specialist? All the information in this article.
Cybersecurity specialist is one of the fastest growing jobs in the last decade.
Cybersecurity specialists play a key role in the security of information systems. By monitoring, detecting, investigating, investigating, analyzing, and responding to security events, cybersecurity specialists protect systems from cybersecurity risks, threats, and vulnerabilities.
What is a cybersecurity specialist?
A cybersecurity specialist is a gatekeeper in the digital age. Cybersecurity specialists find work maintaining network and data security for businesses and organizations.
The security analyst is the one who must monitor the systems employed by the organization and report any problems to management. They are also responsible for anticipating future threats and advising on how to deal with them.
What does a cybersecurity specialist do?
A cybersecurity specialist can play many roles depending on the size and shape of your company or organization. Their central role is to protect the information systems of businesses and other organizations.
Security engineers keep sensitive data safe from breaches, disruptions, and leaks. These professionals protect the organization’s data, reputation, and finances by protecting customer information, financial records, and other confidential information. To achieve this goal, they typically work with a team of other cybersecurity professionals, including penetration testers, security analysts, and technology managers.
The primary function of a cybersecurity analyst is to monitor and protect systems from vulnerabilities and threats the list of cyber threats includes malware, ransomware, spam and phishing, corporate account takeover, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The list of cyber threats and attack methods changes rapidly as criminals discover new ways to cause damage.
In addition, cybersecurity specialist is always expected to have a certain level of training and experience that allows them to provide advice and training on the latest digital best practices.
What skills should you possess?
Cybersecurity specialists must have a wide range of skills to be able to perform their tasks, among them are:
- Knowledge of computer science fundamentals.
- Ability to look for vulnerabilities in IT infrastructures.
- Ability to use logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of IT systems.
- Knowledge of programming languages.
- A deep understanding of how hackers operate and the ability to keep up with the rapid pace of change in the criminal cyber world.
- Problem-solving.
- Attention to detail.
What tasks do you perform?
Depending on the position and the company or government agency, the job responsibilities of a cybersecurity specialist can range from diverse to limited and specifically focused. Cybersecurity specialist job responsibilities may include:
- Implementing and updating security measures during the development of software systems, networks, and data centers.
- Protect protected information or assets from unauthorized access or use.
- Assessing and identifying vulnerabilities and risks in hardware and software.
- Determine the most effective ways to protect IT infrastructure.
- Test security strategies and defenses
- Build firewalls into system and network infrastructures
- Continuously monitor systems for intrusions and cyber-attacks.
- Train members of the organization on security protocols and best practices.
- Prepare reports to keep the organization’s stakeholders informed of security activities.
- Discover potential vulnerabilities
- Discover attacks or intrusions and take mitigating actions.
- Analyze new methods being used by cybercriminals
- Keep up-to-date on new trends, strategies, and procedures to thwart attacks.
- Identify the perpetrator and contact law enforcement if necessary.
What tools does a cybersecurity analyst use?
There are plenty of tools to use if you are in the IT security field. The main tools you should know if you are a cybersecurity engineer are:
- Wireshark: it is open-source software that allows you to inspect real-time data on a live network.
- Ncat: is a simple but powerful tool that can view and log data on TCP or UDP network connections. Ncat works as a back-end listener that allows port scanning.
- Metasploit: Metasploit contains exploits for most of the vulnerabilities in the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure database. Using Metasploit, you can send payloads to a target system and gain access to it through a command line interface.
- Nikto: is an open-source tool that is capable of performing extensive web server scans. It helps to search for malicious files, incorrect configurations, outdated software installations, etc.
- Burp Suite: One of the main features of Burp Suite is its ability to intercept HTTP requests. HTTP requests usually go from your browser to a web server and then the web server sends a response. With Burp Suite, you can perform intermediary operations to manipulate the request and the response.
- Aircrack-ng: this is a set of tools that help you work with wireless networks.
- Nessus: is a popular enterprise vulnerability scanner. This software is designed to be a comprehensive vulnerability scanning and reporting tool. While you can scan and find ports or services using Nmap, Nessus will tell you the list of vulnerabilities and how they can be exploited.
- Snort: is an open-source software for detecting and preventing intrusions on a network. It can perform live traffic analysis and log incoming packets to detect port scans, worms, and other suspicious behavior.
How much does a cybersecurity specialist position earn?
Salaries for this position vary widely depending on the industry and the individual’s knowledge. Average annual salaries are as follows:
Average annual salaries:
United States: USD 107,000.
United Kingdom: USD 72,000.
Germany: USD 92,700.
Spain: USD 72,300.
Italy: USD 73,700.
Denmark: USD 119,000.
Where to study cybersecurity?
A security engineer starts his career by obtaining a bachelor’s degree in computer security.
In the case of having a university degree related to computer science, it is very useful to obtain a master’s degree in the subject to be able to access a position as a cybersecurity analyst.
On the web, it is possible to find an infinity of careers and masters that you can study online. If you are looking for courses to get started in this field we recommend you look at the following pages: