Who Should Be On A Modern Cybersecurity Team?

Information security analysts are becoming more important as cybercrime becomes more sophisticated and prolific. Among the most promising careers in cybersecurity, analysts are responsible for monitoring, investigating, and protecting their respective organization's networks. This means that these experts are in charge of everything from keeping tabs on data and installing security software to safeguarding sensitive information. Most notably, though, information security analysts also assist in the development of disaster recovery plans. These are especially important today, given that many hackers target essential datasets, which can be catastrophic if lost forever. This ability to ensure that organizations can continue to operate even amidst a hacking emergency (plus the aforementioned specialties) makes security analysts very well paid. The median salary for people in this profession is just under $93,000. Aside from this, the field is also expected to grow by 28% by 2026.

As more transactions and operations transition online, hackers have enjoyed a much larger playing field for their nefarious activities. As a result of this, many bustling industries have begun adopting more proactive measures. Case in point, regular security audits are among the top security tips for recruiting companies. Through these measures, companies can gather valuable information to detect possible system vulnerabilities. In May 2021, President Joe Biden even declared the cybersecurity executive order, which states security audits shall be provided every 60 days. Of all cybersecurity professionals, threat analysts are among the most capable of completing this task. This is because threat hunters are responsible for applying new threat intelligence to combat and identify attackers that have slipped through. Through threat hunters, complicated breaches are approached in a more meaningful and proactive way. This means that aside from immediately fighting the threat, threat hunters are also able to prevent future attacks by uncovering adversary trends and patterns.

Unfortunately, not all breaches are the result of insidious third parties. According to researchers, human error is a common cause of data breaches. To be specific, about 88% of all breaches are allegedly caused by employee mistakes. Usually, these cybersecurity mistakes are due to a lack of proper online security education. As such, it's time to invest in security awareness officers. Having been trained in communication and cybersecurity, these experts are tasked with identifying workforce vulnerabilities. From there, security awareness officers develop and share a program that consequently trains employees. Since cybersecurity trends are constantly evolving, the work of a security awareness officer is subsequently continuous. It can even be expected that the aforementioned programs are regularly tweaked and rolled out. Over time, this can bridge any security gaps and create a culture of security among workers of all levels and departments.

Cybersecurity programs and protocols are not evergreen. Therefore, organizations must depend on security software developers to fix possible flaws and discrepancies within present security software. Being skilled in analytics, problem-solving, and coding, security software developers further provide security analysis, countermeasures, and updates. Typically, security software developers work with entities directly responsible for rolling out cybercrime prevention. However, as current attacks become more dangerous and relentless, it helps organizations, in general, to have their own developers on hand. In this way, any issues can easily be patched to prevent further compromises. Thanks to these abilities, software developer statistics reveal that almost 200,000 job openings open up annually for these professionals. This reflects a 22% employment rate growth, which is much higher than average for all occupations.

Gone are the days when only IT-centric companies or large conglomerates needed dedicated cybersecurity teams. Today, as digitalization continues and cybercrime soars, every organization needs a relevant and well-rounded cybersecurity approach. With this, harmful cybercrime attacks can be thwarted, and overall organizational integrity can be upheld.

The article was specially written for www.cyberlands.io by Amber Woods.