Looking to take your cybersecurity career to the next level? Well, plenty of advanced cybersecurity job role options are in high demand and pay huge salaries to these skilled cybersecurity professionals.
One of the most in-demand and popular cybersecurity job roles is that of Cybersecurity Specialist. This is a senior-level job role that requires a strong knowledge of cybersecurity concepts and greater experience in securing an organization’s critical infrastructure and data.
As per Glassdoor, the estimated total pay of Cybersecurity Specialists is around $162,686 per annum with an annual average salary of $125,167.
In this brief guide, let us explore the exciting career path of a cybersecurity specialist and learn how you can advance in your cybersecurity career to this position.
Cybersecurity Specialists – Job Overview
So, who is a cybersecurity specialist, and what do they do?
Often referred to as Information Security Specialists or Network Security Specialists, these cybersecurity professionals have an important role to play in securing the networks, data, devices, and information systems of their organization.
What once used to be handled by IT professionals has transcended to core cybersecurity functionality and it requires greater expertise to combat the evolving cyberthreats.
So, cybersecurity specialists need to have strong cybersecurity skills across all cybersecurity domains, including risk management, vulnerability assessment, network and application security, identity and access management, cloud security, and others.
Roles and Responsibilities of Cybersecurity Specialists
Cybersecurity specialists are responsible for a wide range of tasks, and depending upon their organization and requirement, their role can vary as well.
Some of the common roles and responsibilities of a cybersecurity specialist include:
- Threat and risk assessment
These professionals can be found threat hunting and identifying vulnerabilities within their organization’s systems and networks. They analyze the threats, assess their risks and likelihood of attacks, and prioritize threats and their security measures.
- Implementing a security system
They design and implement security systems within their organizations, such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, antivirus software, etc. They ensure the security system implemented is working efficiently by regularly monitoring, maintaining, and updating it.
- Threat monitoring and detection
They have to continuously monitor their networks and systems for any kind of suspicious activities to detect and respond to threats and data breaches, if any. It may also involve analyzing the security logs and data to identify anomalies to detect threats.
- Incident response
Cybersecurity specialists need to develop effective strategies to respond to incidents and implement proper incident response plans. It requires investigating security breaches and understanding what the extent of damage is which helps them recover their data and devices and devise plans for future attacks.
- Security policies and procedures, and compliance with regulations
Since they are also involved in decision-making and leadership roles, they have to look after compliance with various data privacy and security standards and regulations. They create and implement security policies and procedures for their organizations, along with providing training and awareness programs to their employees about the best cybersecurity practices.
Overall, these are the skilled cybersecurity professionals wearing many hats and responsible for preventing cyberattacks, detecting and responding to security breaches, and protecting their critical infrastructure and sensitive data.
How to become a Cybersecurity Specialist?
There are numerous ways to reach this rewarding cybersecurity job position. Let us see the easy and common way to become a cybersecurity specialist:
- Get the right educational qualification such as bachelor’s or master’s degree in computer science, IT, computer engineering, cybersecurity, and related field. Getting a PhD can be an added advantage for your cybersecurity career.
- Gain essential cybersecurity skills and knowledge. Mastering all the major cybersecurity domains will further enhance your employability.
- Get relevant practical experience through various cybersecurity projects, jobs, competitions, etc.
- Validate your skills and expertise with top cybersecurity specialist certifications. USCSI® provides a specialized cybersecurity certification for these senior-level professionals called the Certified Senior Cybersecurity Specialist (CSCS™). This online self-paced and highly recognized program can be a great addition to your resume enhancing your chances of advancing to higher roles easily.
- Networking with other cybersecurity professionals and a continuous job hunt will help you land your desired cybersecurity job
Cybersecurity Specialists are the most important cybersecurity professionals for organizations.
Summing up! As the number and cost of threats are growing, and the attack surface are becoming huge, organizations are in dire need for skilled and experienced professionals who can design robust security measures for their information system and protect them against all kinds of cyberthreats.
So, whether you are aspiring to get into a cybersecurity career or want to advance to a high-paying cybersecurity job role, you must aim for the role of cybersecurity specialist to get the most out of your cybersecurity career.
We have already discussed what their roles and responsibilities are and how you can become an efficient cybersecurity specialist. So, get the relevant skills and knowledge, and earn the best cybersecurity certification, to take your career to the next level. Enroll now.