How do I become a cyber security professional?

network security professionals

The growth of cybercrime puts businesses and government agencies at the risk of constant threats to their crucial business data, customer data, financial information, and other trade secrets. Cybersecurity professionals play an important role in protecting businesses from cybercriminals. The demand for cybersecurity professionals is constantly increasing and is expected to rise by 28% between 2016 to 2026, as listed by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Who is a cybersecurity professional?

Cybersecurity professionals are responsible for securing the information systems of an organization. They determine the access points, processes, and people to the information and then coordinate and implement information security policies. By applying multi-layer security policies using their skills they defend the IT infrastructure from web threats, malware, viruses, DoS attacks, phishing, etc.

Why cybersecurity professionals matter?

There is no business sector that is not attacked by cybercriminals. Cybercriminals cause severe damages to intellectual property, network, business data, and services by theft, viruses, intrusions, data mining, etc. They are responsible for resolving highly complex security issues and keeping cybercrime at bay. They secure businesses and ensure their continuity by applying their skills of analysis, reverse engineering, incident handling, forensics, to monitor and diagnose vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity professionals also recommend mitigation of cyberattacks and recovery and protection of software and hardware issues.

As a matter of defense strategy, they install firewalls, monitor the process of data flow, and regularize access to protect the network and secure data. They also train staff members on security awareness and best security practices so that the policies and procedures, as drafted by them, are implemented throughout the organization. The reports submitted by them serve as guidance to the management and executive staff.