Cyber
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Cybersecurity is a growing and lucrative area, helping organisations to protect themselves from cyber-attacks and keep their information safe.

With a huge growth in remote working and an increasing amount of businesses moving operations online, cybersecurity experts are valued greatly for their services.

For anyone interested in learning more around cybersecurity, below is a list with some exciting job roles available in the industry:

  • Penetration Tester
  • Cybersecurity Analyst
  • Cybersecurity Engineer
  • Software Developer

Penetration Tester

A penetration tester, or pen tester for short, is known as an ethical hacker. Pen testers, while known as “good hackers”, have to think like a malicious one – looking at the ways in which they could hack an organisation.

Organisations hire pen testers to check for vulnerabilities in their security that they can improve. A pen tester will simulate a cyber-attack on the organisation, attempting to break into a number of application systems, all to help in discovering the areas where such systems can be improved in the case of a real cyber-attack attempt.

Starting salaries working with a penetration testing company can typically range from £20,000 - £30,000, rising to £40,000 - £65,000 when experienced, and around £70,000 when a senior in this job.

Cybersecurity Analyst

A cybersecurity analyst’s role is to find cyberthreats and put changes in place to protect an organisation from such threats. Cybersecurity analysts do this through a range of different methods, including managing the tools that monitor network activity and analysing what they’ve found from such tools to see whether the network has any unusual behaviour on it.

Starting salaries as a cybersecurity analyst tend to range from £25,000 - £35,000, rising to £35,000-£60,000 when experienced, and around £70,000 when a high-level leader or manager in this job.

Cybersecurity Engineer

Cybersecurity engineers build systems that are safe against cyber-attacks. Part of their role is to both create and maintain these systems, protecting them and fixing where necessary, and keeping updated on the latest tech to help maintain a secure system.

Those in this role create new solutions that help solve security issues within an organisation. They also explore and evaluate new tech to enhance the capabilities of their security systems.

The average salary of a cybersecurity engineer is reported to be around £49,000 a year; entry level positions starting at around £35,000 while those more experienced can earn up to £70,000.

Is Cybersecurity a Good Career?

Cybersecurity can be an excellent career choice for the right person. While many jobs in cybersecurity can be highly rewarding, it’s important to understand the challenges and stresses that can come with it.

It’s best to have a passion for the industry, and a drive to succeed within it, understanding the challenges that can come with the job while not having these discourage your determination to get involved in the industry.