Any incident that involves unauthorized access to the data is called a data breach. It can hurt businesses and related people in a variety of ways. So, cyber security experts are needed in every company to deal with data breaches. It is not at all surprising that massive data breaches pop up in the news headlines very frequently.
According to Security Magazine some of the data breaches that took place this year are:
- Social Media Profiles Data Leak – 4 billion records.
About 4 billion records were found exposed and easily accessible on an insecure server, by Diachenko and Troia in October. No password or authentication was required to download all of the data (email id, LinkedIn profiles, names, contact numbers).
- Orvibo leaked Database – 2 billion records.
This was discovered in July by Rotem and Locar when an open database linked to Orvibo Smart Home products exposed more than 2 billion records that affected users from around the world.
- TrueDialog Data Breach – more than 1 billion records.
This data breach affected nearly 1 billion people with leakage of their sensitive data like full names of message recipients, TrueDialog account holders and TrueDialog users, the content of messages, email addresses, phone numbers, and status messages.
- First American Data breach – around 885 million records.
The largest real estate company in the U.S. exposed transaction records of 885 million individuals. It exposed millions of documents related to mortgage deals.
- Verifications.io Data Breach – 808 million records.
150 GB of detailed marketing data of almost 808 million records was leaked by the MongoDB database. Lots of emails, phone numbers, and business leads were leaked.
Other data breaches include
- Yahoo – 3 billion people affected
- Marriott international – 500 million people affected.
- Facebook – 540 million people
- Friend Finder Network – 412.2 million people affected.
There are innumerable hacks that happen frequently and hit the headlines. This makes it very clear how crucial has cyber security become these days.
What is Cyber Security?
A combination of technologies, processes, and controls that are designed to protect systems, networks, programs, devices and data from cyber-attacks, falls under cybersecurity. An effective cybersecurity system protects against the unauthorized exploitation of systems, network and technology and also reduces the risk of cyberattacks.
Cyber security focuses on the protection of systems from being otherwise damaged or inaccessible.
A robust cyber security system is made of three constraints.
- People – People need to be aware of cyber threats and act accordingly. They should be upgraded with the latest trends of cyberattacks.
- Processes – The processes need to be reviewed regularly in order to keep them away from cyber threats.
- Technology – The most important component of cybersecurity, technology can be utilized to reduce cyber risks from access controls to installing antivirus software.
Cybersecurity has become so important because the cost of cyber security breaches is rising. Also, cybercrime has become a big business. In 2018, the cybercrime economy was estimated to be worth $1.5 trillion, according to a study made by Bromium.
Top 5 Job Roles in Cyber Security
Here are some of the job roles that one can target in the domain of cyber security.
Security Engineer
Qualifications required.- A bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering or similar field.
Significant experience in IT security.
Roles- Security engineers work for creating and implementing solutions that ensure the security of an organization’s products and systems. Assessment of the organization’s workflows and anticipation of future issues also come under the responsibility of a security engineer.
They must be adept at incident response and have a strong understanding of forensics is also needed.
The minimum salary of a security engineer begins at Rs. 4 lakhs and can go up to Rs. 8 lakhs per annum.
CISO(Chief Information Security Officer)
Qualifications required – a minimum of a bachelor’s degree in computer science, cyber security. A master’s degree in IT security can be a great advantage.
Roles- The CISO is a senior-level executive of an organization whose work is to ensure that the cybersecurity plan executed is best suited to the organization’s operations and technologies. The CISO along with the team works to identify, develop, implement and manage the processes across the organization to ensure no security breaches.
They are also responsible for overseeing the implementation of security policies and procedures within the organization.
According to PWC, over 80% of companies now have a CISO on the management team.
The average salary of CISOs ranges from Rs. 2 Crores to Rs. 4 Crores.
Cyber Security Consultants
Qualifications required.- A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Science is a must in the cyber security field. Since this is a highly specialized field, you need experience of three to five years in the cyber security field.
Roles- A cyber security consultant performs a variety of roles within a cybersecurity field. He /she has to play both the defender and attacker in computer systems, networks and software programs. They find out the weaknesses of the system by attacking them and then figure out the solutions to strengthen the system as a defender to protect it from malicious hackers.
The average salary of cyber security consultants is around 12 lakhs per annum.
Security Architect
Qualifications. A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science like BCA or MCA or B.Tech/M.tech and 2-4 years of experience in the security field are required to become a security architect.
Roles – A security architect is an individual who is responsible for maintaining the security of a company’s computer system. A security architect has to gain a thorough understanding of the company’s system, and who has access to it. They must be able to recommend ways to improve a system’s security including its hardware and software. Their roles also include setting up user policies and protocols, monitor them and enforce them. They also need to set up a backup plan if any hacker gains access to the company’s system.
The average salary of a security architect begins at Rs. 17 lakhs per annum.
Security Manager
Qualifications. The basic qualification being a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science along with a certification course in the same field can be of great advantage.
Roles – the job roles of a security manager includes the creation and execution of strategies to improve the reliability and security of IT projects. They define, implement and maintain corporate security policies and procedures. They act as a key liaison between upper-level management, programmers, risk assessment staff and auditors.
The average salary of a cyber security manager begins at Rs.12 lakhs per annum.
Conclusion.
Apart from the positions listed above, there are many designations related to cyber security that you can choose as your career. Although a foundational degree can get you a good job, adding certification courses to your resume can help you jump up the queue. So why wait, enroll for a cyber security training program and explore your career opportunities in this field.
