Top Cybersecurity Jobs for a rewarding career in 2024

Internet these days is one of the finest places to hang out in. According to DataReportal, an individual spends around 6 hours and 37 minutes per day on the Internet. This is just an average. Depending upon different demographic factors, the time spent can be even more or less. And this poses a huge threat to the security of both a person as well as a business. A recent report from IBM points out the average cost of data breaches in the USA was $4.33 million and PurpleSec reports around 71.1 million people become suffer from cyber-attacks each year and the number is only growing. This is where a need for skilled cybersecurity professionals arises.

These professionals contribute to making the internet a safer place and mitigating the huge losses occurring because of cyber-attacks. They work in different ways either by securing networks, securing devices, or strengthening the existing cybersecurity measures. If you are someone who wishes to contribute to making cyberspace a safer place, then there are a lot of job profiles available that you can pursue in your cybersecurity career. Here we will discuss some of the top cybersecurity profiles that you can go for.

Eligibility for a fruitful cybersecurity career

Before we start, we must understand what it takes to become a cybersecurity professional. To get into a cybersecurity career, a candidate must have a degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field (STEM field is recommended). If they have any work experience in cybersecurity, either through internships or boot camps, then it will serve as an added advantage. Apart from that skills such as networking, programming, and security analysis are required. These cybersecurity skills can be easily gained with any cybersecurity certification.

The Certified Cybersecurity General Practitioner (CCGP™) is one such highly credible certification offered by the United States Cybersecurity Institute (USCSI®) for beginner-level professionals that you can consider to enhance your skills and knowledge.

Popular job profiles in the cybersecurity domain

The cybersecurity job profiles consist of several roles. These cybersecurity professionals are responsible for several tasks right from securing networks and applications to analyzing what went wrong after a cyber-attack is done. There are also teams who get paid heftily to use their cybersecurity skills to breach their own security systems, also known as penetration testing. This is done to find the loophole in their system and take corrective measures. Few cybersecurity experts are responsible to design the security architecture of their organization and some are confined to protecting the company and their customer’s data. So, if you want to get into this cybersecurity domain then there are plenty of opportunities available in the form of various job profiles as shown in the table below.

Job Title	Related Job Profiles	Roles and Responsibilities	Average Annual Salary*	Top Certifications
Cybersecurity Architect	Security Engineer, Security Analyst	Designs and implements security solutions for organizations.	$115,000	Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP),
Penetration Tester	Security Analyst, Red Teamer	Tests the security of an organization's systems and networks by simulating real-world attacks.	$105,000	Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), Certified Penetration Tester (CPT)
Security Analyst	Incident Responder, Threat Analyst	Monitors and analyzes an organization's security systems for signs of intrusion.	$95,000	Certified Information Systems Security Analyst (CISSP), Certified Cybersecurity Consultant (CCC™)
Malware Analyst	Forensic Analyst, Threat Intelligence Analyst	Analyzes malware samples to identify and understand the threats they pose.	$90,000	GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst (GCFA),
Application Security Engineer	Software Engineer, Security Engineer	Designs and implements security features into software applications.	$100,000	Certified Application Security Engineer, Certified Cybersecurity General Practitioner (CCGP™)
Cloud Security Engineer	Security Architect, Network Engineer	Designs, implements, and manages security solutions for cloud-based environments.	$120,000	Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP), Certified Cloud Architect (CCA)

*Source of salary - Glassdoor

These are the few most popular cybersecurity jobs that are in high demand now. Apart from these, there are many other profiles including IT Auditor, Cybersecurity consultant, Cybersecurity manager, and some C-Level job profiles such as Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), or Chief Security Officer (CSO). But to reach these top cybersecurity job profiles, you need to spend a considerable amount of time in your cybersecurity career.

Conclusion

Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing field that has a huge scope in the future. As cybercrimes are getting more innovative and sophisticated, and with the rise of technology, there are increasing cases of cyber-attacks, the need for cybersecurity specialists is larger than ever. And this is the perfect time to invest in yourself if you want to establish your career in the Cybersecurity domain. There are several job profiles that you can consider to start your career with. What you need to do is simply gain the top cybersecurity skills such as penetration testing, programming, and analytical skills. Top cybersecurity certifications will be a great way to get yourself equipped with cybersecurity knowledge and expertise.