Skills Every Cybersecurity Professional Needs

Cyber security, also known as information technology (IT) security, is a blanket term that describes the technology and practices involved in protecting critical systems and sensitive information from digital attacks. Cyber security measures are designed to combat threats against networked systems and applications, whether they originate from inside or outside of an organization, and are an essential part of any organization’s risk management strategy.

According to Statista, in fiscal year 2020, the number of cyber security incident reports by federal agencies in the United States was more than 30,000, an approximate 8% increase from the previous year.

Cybersecurity professionals, also known as information security professionals, perform a variety of technical and administrative tasks required for the daily protection of IT systems. According to Cloud Academy a partial list of the tasks they may perform includes:

Cybersecurity professionals use a variety of technical, workplace and interpersonal skills in their day-to-day activities. If you have a background in IT, you may already have some of the technical skills required to pursue a cybersecurity career, like: 

Coding is the process of using programming language, or code, to build websites and web applications. Unlike coding, which is essentially static, scripting is a type of coding in which you make a program do something, like making images and text move around. Cybersecurity professionals should have a working knowledge of front-end programming languages like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as well as back-end programming languages like PHP, Java, C# and Python.

A cybersecurity framework provides a collection of policies, best practices and protocols designed to help secure an organization’s data and business operations. The frameworks you might use as a cybersecurity professional will vary depending on your organization’s type, size and industry. Some of the most popular cybersecurity frameworks include:

Because security threats are equal opportunity offenders that transcend all operating systems and devices, you should develop a deep familiarity with MacOS, Windows, Linux and their command-line interfaces. And because consumers are increasingly managing so many aspects of their lives using mobile devices, it would also be helpful to study the threats and vulnerabilities confronting mobile operating systems like iOS and Android.

Many functionalities like data storage that were once based in computer hard drives or wired networks have migrated to the cloud. Devices that enhance convenience and entertainment experiences, like voice assistants and fitness watches, involve a technology called IoT (Internet of Things). As a cybersecurity professional you will be expected to be knowledgeable in cloud security. This means monitoring access and ensuring the company’s data storage and sharing is secure within common cloud providers such as Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, IBM Cloud and Oracle. You may also work with IT departments to create safe internal cloud systems for an organization.

Encompassing all policies and procedures used to prevent and detect unauthorized access, misuse or modification of an organization’s data system, network security is a general term that defines a broad set of basic cybersecurity skills. To pursue a career as a cybersecurity analyst, you will need to be familiar with firewalls and their implementation, and various ways in which network traffic is monitored to identify threats.

This aspect of cyber security involves analyzing systems and reporting on their condition in audits that offer deep insight into where existing cybersecurity systems are performing well, and where improvement is needed. The ability to provide unbiased evaluations, make recommendations regarding changes to infrastructure and develop cost-benefit analyses for senior management and other stakeholders are skills that come into play here.

Working in cyber security certainly requires a robust set of technical skills, as described above. But they are not the only skills to put in your toolbox as you prepare to pursue a cybersecurity career. Soft skills like attention to detail and communication can be more important than you might think. 

Cyber security has problem-solving at its core, so it’s no surprise that problem-solving skills are first on the list of soft skills you may require to be successful in this career pursuit. As a cybersecurity professional, you may be called upon to make high-stakes decisions about your organization’s security and use problem-solving skills daily, finding creative ways to confront cyberthreats as they present themselves across existing and emerging technologies. 

Critical thinking is required in problem-solving. Developing your critical thinking skills can help you to:

Strong verbal and written communication skills are qualifications that frequently show up in job descriptions, and for good reason. Communication skills go hand-in-hand with problem-solving skills as the cyber security professional often needs to explain a vulnerability or other problem they’ve found, or the solution they propose to individuals who have limited technical background or experience. This is a skill that can serve you well throughout your career, as you might need to communicate with stakeholders by email, phone or in person, and have the ability to make complex subjects understandable to them, enabling them to make decisions and form action plans.

Technology moves quickly and new types of cyberthreats arise frequently. Cybersecurity professionals need to keep pace with new vulnerabilities that crop up with the emergence of new technologies, and the evolving tactics that cybercriminals will undoubtedly use. The ability to learn new technologies quickly and adjust processes and systems with ease is an essential skill. Adapting the mindset of a lifelong learner can help you stay a step ahead of these challenges.

As a cybersecurity professional, you’ll likely be responsible for continuous network monitoring. Being able to defend your organization against cyberattacks may require you to be not only highly vigilant, but also very detail oriented to detect and confront vulnerabilities. 

Attention to detail is a skill that you’ll also likely use to ensure that your verbal and written communication with both the stakeholders within your organization and with external audiences is accurate and concise.

To fully understand how a system could be breached and create effective solutions to thwart attacks, cybersecurity professionals should know how to be ethical hackers. This means understanding how malicious hackers work, and using the same cybersecurity skills they use to perform penetration tests to identify cyber security flaws and the vulnerabilities they cause.

To be able to effectively safeguard your organization’s digital assets and prevent security breaches, you’ll need to have a solid understanding of what happens if your efforts fail and how compromised data can be recovered. Cyber security and computer forensics are two separate disciplines, with the latter typically associated with law enforcement’s efforts to recover information on computer hard drives as part of a criminal investigation. But in this way the two are closely related. Acquiring a foundation in computer forensics can help you excel in your cyber security career.

As new technologies emerge and more data systems shift from hardwired networks to the cloud, the field of cyber security continues to grow, driving a level of demand for cybersecurity professionals that is projected to remain strong through the next decade. Every cybersecurity professional needs a mixture of hard skills, which are required mainly through technical training, and soft skills, which are sometimes referred to as people skills. If you’re preparing to pursue a cybersecurity career, acquiring them is a great first step.