Are you planning a career being a cybersecurity analyst? If so, how can you rightly pursue it? How can you develop your career into being a competent one in the field?
What Is A Cybersecurity Analyst?
A cybersecurity analyst is responsible for keeping an organization’s security platform at its utmost. This includes the company’s proprietary and data. Part of their analysis is the suggestion and development of security measures. Thus, their goal is to ensure a healthy cyber environment for the organization.
What Does A Cybersecurity Analyst Do?
As mentioned, a cybersecurity analyst makes sure that the company is in a healthy cyber state. But this definition is too broad and general. So here we will be emphasizing the specifics of their duties.
1. Monitor Networks
They always keep on track of all the activities taking place within the networks they are overseeing. For instance, they stay vigilant of incoming codes, and any negative activity. Constant monitoring aids in giving immediate action to address the need accordingly.
2. Reporting
Since their main duty concerns making analyses, they should make reports. Perhaps they shall make a compilation of reports. This can be more about the safety of the networks they are working on. Namely, incidents and actions they took in response to these.
3. Manage Software
Cybersecurity analysts are also the ones who install, manage, and update the software on a company’s systems. As long as these fall within the vicinity of their job, they should take care of it. They ensure that software is kept up to date with enough security in place, for instance.
4. Research
As analysts, they keep themselves updated. Research is a great part of their job. So they look out for new advancements in information security and technology. Also, they should also keep pace with emerging threats. Thus help everyone in the company maintain cybersecurity best practices.
5. Develop Security Plans
As already mentioned, they can suggest security measures. This is vital. Especially that their task mostly involves analyses. Thus, a part of it is to suggest ways in how to address these security issues.
What Are The Skills Needed To Become A Cybersecurity Analyst
Certainly, becoming a cybersecurity analyst takes a lot. So it is important to have at least these skills we are outlining below.
- Intrusion prevention– to monitor network traffic and detect potential threats
- Ethical hacking & penetration testing- this is the act of hacking the company’s system to see existing vulnerabilities. The purpose of this is to protect the whole system from any potential attacks
- Incident response- in case of an attack, cybersecurity analysts are on the frontlines. They aim to effectively manage any implications of the breach. Besides, they aim to reduce the likelihood of the attack from recurring
- Computer forensics- this skill refers to the prevention of any cybercrime. This includes the gathering, analysis, and reporting of data. So this skill focuses on strengthening evidence in case of a breach or attack.
- Reverse engineering- a skill that an analyst must have to gain in-depth knowledge of why software does what it does. This also helps in software configuration in case of any bug or malware.
