Cyber security, necessary or not? Here’s the deal, almost all information or data is being uploaded and connected to the Internet in this technological age. As we know it, Internet is accessible anytime and anywhere worldwide. Therefore, your information could easily be accessed by any of the 7.7 billion people in the world. Here’s the gist of it, it’s not your holiday pictures or your presentation videos that people are interested in, it is essentially your privacy. We are addressing about identity, bank accounts, house location, relatives and close friends, privacy and so much more. Stalkers, hackers, identity fraud, crime, invasion of privacy and so forth are just the tip of the icebergs of potential incidents that could occur when your data is leaked.

So the question now is, what training is necessary for a cyber security expert? Since cyber security technicians is a legitimate occupation and is widely sought after in any company in this day and age, the easiest approach is to pursue through education. Going through computer science or IT-related courses is the simplest and most instructive way of earning knowledge and certification. Similar to any degree program, you will be required to fulfill prerequisite subjects which are the core subjects that will be useful to tackle the topic we are discussing. The courses should equip you with the hows and whys of learning such skills. Executing commands, creating your own code, protection software or basic protective coding, etc. You’ll be guided through their compact training courses that encompasses incident penetration courses (understanding hacking) courses, security incident response training (solving breach), incident response training courses (consulting and solving problems), etc. Additionally, you’ll be required to undergo internship programs where you are will get an industrial training courses.

Graduates can generally apply for security architect or security consultants, both essential in creating and providing advice on security systems. There are also those who can opt to be penetration testers or ethical hackers who are paid to test the response levels of security systems. The highest role attainable in their niche field would be Chief Information Security Officer which would oversee all technicalities and ensuring company data, software or systems are protected.

Finally, though the course provides a degree certificate and the fundamental knowledge, there are other certifications that would be necessary to be qualified for a technical role. You’d be surprised but most tertiary-level graduate are still required to go through external governmental bodies or certified organizations for approval to practice. These include lawyers, doctors, scientists and cyber security jobs. Just by searching online, you’ll come across heaps of certificates, but it would be best to scope the requirements of roles that you would be interested in. CISSP, GSEC, CompTIA Security+ are some of the more common certificates. There are also greater specified certificates, requiring years of similar working experience or higher qualifications to be able to even apply, much less take the test. Stressful as it may be, these would set you apart from at least 78% of the total graduates, giving you a significant advantage.