Looking to begin a new career is always a bit nerve-wracking. Setting out on a new adventure and starting at the bottom, particularly if you’re already in a comfortable place, can be downright terrifying, but it can also be incredibly rewarding. The pressure amid a career change can be especially daunting because you know it’s important to pursue your passions in life but also ensure that you can provide for yourself and those you love. The following will walk you through the steps involved in starting one new career path specifically: cybersecurity.
Why Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is one of the biggest growing concerns in the modern era. Data has officially surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable commodity, and there are countless brilliant people around the world who know exactly how to find and steal it. Last year alone, nearly seven billion dollars was lost to a variety of cyber threats, and rates are only expected to grow. To make matters scarier, it’s no longer only multi-million dollar companies and healthcare providers that are being targeted; businesses of all shapes and sizes are being hit and losing big money to deal with the repercussions.
To make the field more alluring, there are lots of federal grants being developed to help support companies’ efforts to improve cybersecurity. This is a professional industry that is expected to hire lots of people in the near future.
Study Current Job Postings
Because cybersecurity is a rapidly evolving art, the needs of the industry are constantly changing. To get a good idea of what is currently standard, take the time to read through cybersecurity job postings and see what experience, education, and skillsets are in demand.
Hard Skills
In the world of cybersecurity, there are a ton of specialties, but a few core competencies can help keep your options open. Typically, knowledge of networks, systems administration, cloud computing, and programming will aid someone in a cyber security role.
Starting Positions
There are a ton of cybersecurity companies in the world and companies with cybersecurity departments, so, of course, starting positions vary widely. This being said, some common entry-level positions in cybersecurity include help desk technician, software developer, network administrator, and junior information security analyst. Career paths can focus on things like engineering and architecture, incident response, management, and administration consulting, and testing and hacking.
Education
Given how much information is valuable to people working in cybersecurity and how many different fields of knowledge coalesce within the industry, many people seek out degrees or professional certificates. Getting a master’s degree online cyber security can help set you apart from other applicants. Many educational programs also have relationships with companies that regularly hire people in the cybersecurity field, sometimes making it easier to develop a network and find a job post-grad.
Expected Salary
When making education-based decisions, many people consider the salary they’re likely to end up with to help them determine whether the school is worth the cost of tuition. In the world of cybersecurity, there is a lot of variety when it comes to salary. People starting off as incident response analysts, for instance, are looking at somewhere around $50,000 per year. Someone in the later stages of their cybersecurity career, let’s say a chief information security officer, is looking at $163,000 per year.
Soft Skills
Of course, no career exists in a vacuum. The following soft skills are absolutely necessary if you want to thrive in cybersecurity:
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Digital literacy skills
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A willingness to always be learning
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Attention to detail
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Creativity
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Critical thinking
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Risk assessment
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Technical writing and documentation
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Project management
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Leadership and Collaboration
Depending on your particular role, communication skills and marketing skills might also be valuable. Being able to run your own cybersecurity business requires that you find and secure clients.
Commitment To Lifelong Learning
To reiterate a point mentioned above, a willingness to always be learning is vital if you want to do well in cybersecurity. Hackers are always finding new ways into systems, and this means cybersecurity professionals need to always be finding ways to stop them. If you don’t want the sort of career where you have to be reading the latest news and developments, studying new models, and developing new theories, cybersecurity isn’t right for you. You need to accept that what you know about it will become obsolete much more quickly than knowledge in other fields.
The above information should have broken down the basic information you need to get into cybersecurity as well as outlined the key things you need to get in order to make a career in the industry. Many companies have internships available that can help get you started as well.
Online Threat Alerts Security Tips
Pay the safest way
Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or if the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly.
Guard your personal information
In any transaction you conduct, make sure to check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) to see if the seller, charity, company, or organization is credible. Be especially wary if the entity is unfamiliar to you. Always call the number found on a website’s contact information to make sure the number legitimately belongs to the entity you are dealing with.
Be careful of the information you share
Never give out your codes, passwords or personal information, unless you are sure of who you're dealing with
Know who you’re dealing with
Crooks pretending to be from companies you do business with may call or send an email, claiming they need to verify your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something and know who you are sending payment to. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.
Check your accounts
Regularly check your account transactions and report any suspicious or unauthorised transactions.
Don’t believe promises of easy money
If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam. Oftentimes, offers that seem too good to be true, actually are too good to be true.
Do not open email from people you don’t know
If you are unsure whether an email you received is legitimate, try contacting the sender directly via other means. Do not click on any links in an email unless you are sure it is safe.
Think before you click
If an email or text message looks suspicious, don’t open any attachments or click on the links.
Verify urgent requests or unsolicited emails, messages or phone calls before you respond
If you receive a message or a phone call asking for immediate action and don't know the sender, it could be a phishing message.
Be careful with links and new website addresses
Malicious website addresses may appear almost identical to legitimate sites. Scammers often use a slight variation in spelling or logo to lure you. Malicious links can also come from friends whose email has unknowingly been compromised, so be careful.
Secure your personal information
Before providing any personal information, such as your date of birth, Social Security number, account numbers, and passwords, be sure the website is secure.
Stay informed on the latest cyber threats
Keep yourself up to date on current scams by visiting this website daily.
Use Strong Passwords
Strong passwords are critical to online security.
Keep your software up to date and maintain preventative software programs
Keep all of your software applications up to date on your computers and mobile devices. Install software that provides antivirus, firewall, and email filter services.
Update the operating systems on your electronic devices
Make sure your operating systems (OSs) and applications are up to date on all of your electronic devices. Older and unpatched versions of OSs and software are the target of many hacks. Read the CISA security tip on Understanding Patches and Software Updates for more information.
What if You Got Scammed?
Stop Contact With The Scammer
Hang up the phone. Do not reply to emails, messages, or letters that the scammer sends. Do not make any more payments to the scammer. Beware of additional scammers who may contact you claiming they can help you get your lost money back.
Secure Your Finances
- Report potentially compromised bank account, credit or debit card information to your financial institution(s) immediately. They may be able to cancel or reverse fraudulent transactions.
- Notify the three major credit bureaus. They can add a fraud alert to warn potential credit grantors that you may be a victim of identity theft. You may also want to consider placing a free security freeze on your credit report. Doing so prevents lenders and others from accessing your credit report entirely, which will prevent them from extending credit:
- Equifax
- Experian
- TransUnion
Check Your Computer
If your computer was accessed or otherwise affected by a scam, check to make sure that your anti-virus is up-to-date and running and that your system is free of malware and keylogging software. You may also need to seek the help of a computer repair company. Consider utilizing the Better Business Bureau’s website to find a reputable company.
Change Your Account Passwords
Update your bank, credit card, social media, and email account passwords to try to limit further unauthorized access. Make sure to choose strong passwords when changing account passwords.
Report The Scam
Reporting helps protect others. While agencies can’t always track down perpetrators of crimes against scammers, they can utilize the information gathered to record patterns of abuse which may lead to action being taken against a company or industry.
Report your issue to the following agencies based on the nature of the scam:
- Local Law Enforcement: Consumers are encouraged to report scams to their local police department or sheriff’s office, especially if you lost money or property or had your identity compromised.
- Federal Trade Commission: Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357) or use the Online Complaint Assistant to report various types of fraud, including counterfeit checks, lottery or sweepstakes scams, and more.
- Identitytheft.gov: If someone is using your personal information, like your Social Security, credit card, or bank account number, to open new accounts, make purchases, or get a tax refund, report it at www.identitytheft.gov. This federal government site will also help you create your Identity Theft Report and a personal recovery plan based on your situation. Questions can be directed to 877-ID THEFT.
How To Recognize a Phishing Scam
Scammers use email or text messages to try to steal your passwords, account numbers, or Social Security numbers. If they get that information, they could get access to your email, bank, or other accounts. Or they could sell your information to other scammers. Scammers launch thousands of phishing attacks like these every day — and they’re often successful.
Scammers often update their tactics to keep up with the latest news or trends, but here are some common tactics used in phishing emails or text messages:
Phishing emails and text messages often tell a story to trick you into clicking on a link or opening an attachment. You might get an unexpected email or text message that looks like it’s from a company you know or trust, like a bank or a credit card or utility company. Or maybe it’s from an online payment website or app. The message could be from a scammer, who might
- say they’ve noticed some suspicious activity or log-in attempts — they haven’t
- claim there’s a problem with your account or your payment information — there isn’t
- say you need to confirm some personal or financial information — you don’t
- include an invoice you don’t recognize — it’s fake
- want you to click on a link to make a payment — but the link has malware
- say you’re eligible to register for a government refund — it’s a scam
- offer a coupon for free stuff — it’s not real
About Online Threat Alerts (OTA)
Online Threat Alerts or OTA is an anti-cybercrime community that started in 2012. OTA alerts the public to cyber crimes and other web threats.
By alerting the public, we have prevented a lot of online users from getting scammed or becoming victims of cybercrimes.
With the ever-increasing number of people going online, it important to have a community like OTA that continuously alerts or protects those same people from cyber-criminals, scammers and hackers, who are every day finding new ways of carrying out their malicious activities.
Online users can help by reporting suspicious or malicious messages or websites to OTA. And, if they want to determine if a message or website is a threat or scam, they can use OTA's search engine to search for the website or parts of the message for information.
Help maintain Online Threat Alerts (OTA).