Cyber Security Professions

a young male is looking for a cyber security job

An individual who is looking to get a job in the cyber security field has a choice of three different types of positions – red, blue or purple.  The type of job one selects will depend upon what skills have been acquired through personal exploration and/or educational programs.  In addition, one might choose one of these based on the challenges they present and the level of difficulty or excitement that may be involved.  No matter which path you choose, Cambridge College of Healthcare & Technology can assist you on your journey to your desired career in cyber security.

In this article we explore some of the jobs that someone working in a blue job might do.  In contrast to red jobs, often referred to as offensive security, which involve techniques that are used to find vulnerabilities and hack into systems, blue jobs, or defensive security, are focused on analyzing and strengthening the security of systems so that vulnerabilities can be minimized to prevent someone from getting unauthorized access.  Individuals in blue jobs are generally tasked with establishing security measures that will protect an organization’s key assets and then they routinely perform risk assessments in order to develop strong incident response plans.  These individuals will be the first people called upon when a breach occurs so that they can quickly determine the source of the attack and work to get it resolved.

Blue Jobs

Below are some of the blue jobs that someone in the cyber security field could consider.  Skills required for these types of jobs might include strong ethical standards and a desire to follow the letter of the law.  In addition, planning skills and a keen attention to detail along with an extensive knowledge of detection software might make someone a good fit for these types of jobs.

Information Security Analyst

Individuals in this position are responsible for continuous monitoring of an organization’s computer networks to keep an eye out for security breaches and respond to incidents when they occur.  Information security analysts are usually well versed in IT trends related to security and help to create standards and best practices for the organizations they serve.  In addition, they may be asked to assist employees with troubleshooting access issues as well as training employees on the proper procedures for keeping information secure.  According to a number of sources, there is a high demand for this particular job right now especially in the healthcare sector due to the increase in security risks associated with telehealth and heavy use of digital devices for recording and maintaining sensitive patient information.

Incident Response Manager

Individuals in this role have the highest authority when responding to a cyber security incident.  They are in charge of designating who handles the tasks that are required to respond to and mitigate negative consequences as a result of an incident.  A person in this role may be required to handle many of these tasks on their own if additional support is not available but, in many cases, there are multiple individuals who make up the incident response team.  Incident response managers are also responsible for creating the formal documentation that describes in detail how incidents will be handled which would include steps from preparing for incidents all the way up to analyzing what happened and making improvements based on observed outcomes.

Cyber Security Engineer

Cyber security engineers are involved in the process of developing secure and trusted software for organizations that can help keep their data safe.  Individuals in this role often set the standards for security policies and procedures and like many other roles they are heavily involved in the monitoring and assessment of systems to identify vulnerabilities and prevent attacks.  Cyber security engineers are also often part of incident response teams, working with the Incident Report Manager to quickly respond to security breaches and minimize system damage.  Even though this could be considered to be a blue job, cyber security engineers also participate in penetration testing, which tends to be more of a red job, in an effort to identify vulnerabilities so they can develop the software tools to address these vulnerabilities.

Educational Opportunity

These and other jobs in cyber security more often than not require an individual to have completed a bachelor’s degree program.  Cambridge College of Healthcare & Technology offers a flexible, online Bachelor of Science degree in Cyber & Network Security that can provide you with the skills and training you will need to enter into one of these roles. The program at Cambridge offers courses in information gathering and vulnerability analysis and information technology infrastructure development and operations which can help an individual build the knowledge and skills to pursue one of these careers.

If you are interested in exploring a career in cyber security, Cambridge would love to be a part of your path to success. We invite you to fill out the Request Info form on our website to get more information or you can give us a call at 1-877-206-4279. We look forward to hearing from you.