
What Skills Do You Need for a Career in Cybersecurity?
To become an expert in cybersecurity you will need some or all of the following certifications and skills.
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) for competency in the design, implementation, engineering and management of information security programs.
- Global Information Assurance Certification (GIAC). Certifications are available in several categories including Security Administration, Forensics, Audit, Management, Legal, Software Security and GSE.
- ISACA Certifications are professional certifications available in IT Audit, Security, Governance and Risk.
- CompTIA Security covers essential principles for network security and risk management.
There are also other ‘soft skills’ that are required to work in this field.
- Communication Skills
Cybersecurity professionals must have strong written and verbal communications skills. Jobs in the field require the ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
- Integrity and Discretion
By its very nature, working in the cybersecurity field requires sensitivity to an organisation’s security vulnerability issues and be able to tackle those issues in a way that engenders trust.
- Programming Skills
A variety of scripts and programming tools are required to design effective security programs and analyse cyber-attacks and breaches. Experience in system and network programming is a must.
- Understanding of Security Principles
An understanding of basic security principles, such as privacy, confidentiality, authentication, access control, and others, results in a greater chance that systems will be less vulnerable to failures and attacks.
- Risk Analysis
Cybersecurity personnel must be able to assess a client’s particular security needs in light of its organisational goals, which requires knowledge of risk analysis principles.
- Malicious Codes
Additionally, cybersecurity professionals need a working knowledge of malicious codes, how they are propagated and the risks associated with each.
- Intruder Techniques
In analysing attacks, personnel should be able to recognise known intruder techniques, their characteristics and effects, and identify new intruder techniques using elimination of known ones.
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