5 Cybersecurity Career Paths and How to Get Started

On 6 February 2023, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern and central Turkey and northern and western Syria. More effective investigations will lead to more support for victims and, one day, to accountability for Russian war criminals. Of this, ODA funding constituted £324.4 million (39.1% of spend); and non-ODA £506 million (60.9%). CSSF funding was invested by 12 government departments and agencies, with other departments providing expertise. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was the largest CSSF spending department (£678.27 million), with the Ministry of Defence (£86.73 million) and Home Office (£39.89 million) as the next 2 largest spending departments.

This means that any feeder role you choose will provide you exposure to some cyber security stuff. You will get the opportunity to familiarize yourself with security technologies, frameworks, and concepts, which you can list on your CV and talk about in job interviews. Before investing in higher education or certifications, explore salaries in cybersecurity and learn about the projected career outlook for the coming decade. Students can attend university job fairs, ask professors about internship opportunities, and join IT security organizations. Groups like the Information Systems Security Association International host conferences and seminars that provide ample networking opportunities. Still, 12% of security positions did not list any degree requirements.

Figure 3: Proportion of FY 2022 to 2023 CSSF spend by UK government department

The certification exam covers incident handling, computer crime investigation, hacker exploits, and hacker tools. Explore how to protect against how to become a security specialist cyber attacks using the key principles of digital security. As a cybersecurity professional, you are responsible for countering these risks.

how to become a cyber security specialist

The CISSP certification from the cybersecurity professional organization (ISC)² ranks among the most sought-after credentials in the industry. Earning your CISSP demonstrates that you’re experienced in IT security and capable of designing, implementing, and monitoring a cybersecurity program. Discover why cyber security is important, and how to build organizational cyber resilience in these four cyber security courses. Our training courses offer a structured learning path from foundation to advanced level, helping IT, privacy and security practitioners develop the skills needed to deliver best practice and compliance in organisations. As you work on gaining some of the skills, you’ll most likely become familiar with some cybersecurity tools, software, and hardware systems along the way. It’s a good idea to become familiar with how to use at least one cloud program like Azure, which should translate to understanding the basics of how AWS and Google Cloud work.

Foundation Apprenticeship (CQFW)

Don’t expect regular nine-to-five working hours as a cybersecurity specialist. Attacks can happen at any time of day or night, and criminals always hope to catch the people defending the information they want off guard. That’s why cybersecurity professionals are also called ethical hackers. One of the key weapons in a cybersecurity professional’s arsenal is the penetration test. Using this methodology, you can delve deep into the inner working of a client’s network and seek out vulnerabilities before they are exploited.

To undertake a penetration test with the surgical precision required, a curious mind is a must. Those in the early stage of their careers should get as much practical experience as possible and look to achieve industry-standard cyber security qualifications. Enroll in Google’s Cybersecurity Professional Certificate to learn in-demand skills and become job-ready in about six months. In this comprehensive program, you’ll be able to identify common threats and vulnerabilities and learn techniques to mitigate them. Growing your network can also mean joining a professional network on Meetup or Facebook to connect with cybersecurity professionals in your area.