Career in Cybersecurity | Cybersecurity & Ethical Hacking

Undefined Soul

Cybersecurity professionals protect data and systems in networks that are connected to the internet. Cybercriminals or hackers strike in various ways by virus attacks, which may erase your entire system or someone can steal confidential information from your systems or even break into your systems and modify your files without your knowledge.

A computer hacker finds out the loopholes in a system and breaks into it, the information security professional, or an ethical hacker has a similar job. He needs to think like a hacker and find the loopholes in the system before a hacker can get to them.

An Information Security Professional may have to work on one of the following job profiles.

Job Profile

The job of a cybersecurity professional include the following.

Ethical Hacking into a company’s network to find out what security loopholes need to be fixed
Creating security policy for an organisation
24×7 remote management of security products like firewall
Security auditing, that is, compiling a report on a company’s security system to see if it matches standards
Cyber Forensics, that is, clinical investigation of computer crimes/frauds
Training

Demand Estimates

It is estimated by NASSCOM that the demand for Cybersecurity Professionals would be around 90,000 by 2010 in India, whereas world-wide this figure is estimated to touch about 2,00,000, but the industry estimates much higher demand in the local as well as overseas market. With such demands, it is estimated that there would be a shortfall of 35,000 to 45,000 Cybersecurity Professionals in India alone.

Career Path

Entry Level - IS Executive Manager (Role: to correlate broad security guidelines of the organisation with security operations.)
Middle Level - IS Manager (Role: Security program management, data security, ploicy creation/maintenance, business continuity/ disaster recovery)
Senior & Top Level - Chief IS Manager (Role: Design and development of information security policy. Regulatory compliance, information security governance)
Senior & Top Level - Security Advisors / Auditors (Role: Advisory services for information security, policy design, risk assessment, compliance to global/industry standards)
Senior & Top Level - Chief Information Officer (Role: Justifying the cost of ongoing and future investments to mitigate information risks, aligning business objectives with a concise security strategy)

Qualifications

Graduate in any discipline, but software engineers would have preference. A good knowledge of networks and understanding of hackers mind is essential. It is recommended that one does a course in Cyber Security. Such courses would help a erson learn the tricks of the trade, it does not help joining a course for a few days, but it is recommended that one joins reputed certificate programs and long term programs. Certifications like CISA (Certified Information System Auditor), CISM (Certified Information Security Management) and CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professionals) would help a person to start a career in Cybersecurity. Other vendor specific certifications like CCSP (Cisco Certified Security Professional) and MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) also help.

Expected Renumeration

A person with an years experience can expect Rs.3 Lakh per annum. Those with 5 years can get upto 8-10 Lakhs. Those with certifications like CISM, CISSP and CISA can expect annual salaries of 100,000 Rs. abroad.

What to Study

*Institute*	*Course*	*Fee (Rs.)*	*Website*
*Cybersecurity Courses*
IMT, Ghaziabad	Diploma	30,000	www.imt.edu
Online	Ankit Fadia Certified Ethical Hacker	37,000 (online)	www.ankitfadiacertified.com
Tilak Maharashtra University, Pune	PG Diploma	10,000 (distance) 12,000 (classroom)	www.tmv.edu.in
*Value Addition (Certification)*
Information System Audit and Control Association (ISACA)	CISA, CISM	$575	www.isaca.org
International Information systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2	CISSP	$549-$599	www.isc2.org