Building cyber security careers – IT Governance UK Blog

The need for experienced and qualified cyber security professionals is a highlight of Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week, led by NICE (National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education).

This campaign is part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month 2021, which is focused on empowering individuals and organisations to “own their role in protecting their part of cyberspace”.

UK skills gap

The UK government’s Cyber security skills in the UK labour market 2021 report estimates that approximately 680,000 UK businesses (50% of those surveyed) have a basic skills gap.

This includes individuals in charge of cyber security who “lack the confidence to carry out the kinds of basic tasks laid out in the government-endorsed Cyber Essentials scheme”. The most common skills gaps are “storing or transferring personal data, setting up configured firewalls, and detecting and removing malware”.

The report also estimates that 33% of businesses surveyed have more advanced cyber security skills gaps in incident response, penetration testing, forensic analysis and security architecture.

What skills are required?

Cyber security focuses on protecting computer systems from unauthorised access or being otherwise damaged. Cyber security roles are often technical and require knowledge of the threat landscape, detection/monitoring, technical protection, risk management and cyber incident response.

Information security is a broader category that protects all information assets, whether in hard copy or digital form. A career in information security, particularly management, requires knowledge of cyber security, risk management, information security, data privacy, business continuity, and compliance with laws and standards such as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and ISO 27001.

Build your cyber security career

Our cyber security training programme is specifically designed to build cyber security careers by delivering the up-to-date knowledge, skills and qualifications required by organisations worldwide.

With the continued risk posed by COVID-19, we are committed to delivering our instructor-led courses in our unique Live Online format or COVID-secure classrooms. Most courses are also available as Self-Paced Online versions which offer you the chance to work at your own pace and at a lower cost.

Structured learning paths

The number of cyber security training courses and qualifications can be confusing when you’re looking to start your career. Training specialists will always advise taking a ‘role based’ approach and focusing on the necessary skills and knowledge to satisfy the requirements of a specific job.

Our Learning Paths provide a guide to help you decide which training courses and qualifications will help you start or continue to build a cyber security career.

Getting started

A good place to begin is the Certified Cyber Security Foundation Training Course. From social engineering to security in the Cloud, you will gain foundation-level knowledge of the threat landscape, types of cyber attack, legal, regulatory and contractual obligations, and incident response.

The next step is the Certified Cyber Security Practitioner Training Course. This teaches you how to deliver infrastructure, application, information and operational security by implementing appropriate technical and organisational controls. You will also learn how to deal with cyber security incidents and understand the basic principles of evidence collection and digital forensics.

To further develop your career, we recommend the CISMP (Certificate in Information Security Management Principles) qualification. CISMP is widely regarded as the ‘qualification of choice’ for IT security professionals and is recognised across the UK as an essential first rung on the ladder to a successful career in information security.

Technical or management role?

While all cyber security careers require technical expertise, it is important to first decide if you want to become a technical specialist or a cyber security manager/director.

There are plenty of technical training options. For a career in security IT admin or operations, the CompTIA Security Training Course delivers the knowledge required to install and configure systems to secure devices, applications and networks.

Ethical hacking or penetration testing involves identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in an organisation’s systems using the same techniques as a criminal hacker. The demand for ethical hackers has skyrocketed in the past few years and you can develop the skills you need on our Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) Training Course.

Microsoft Office 365 is used by 258 million individuals and more than a million companies worldwide. Our Microsoft Security Training Course portfolio will ensure that you quickly achieve the Azure and Microsoft 365 cyber security qualifications you need to meet the demands of organisations of all sizes.

Opening the doors to cyber security management

Most cyber security career paths eventually lead to a management position, which means that you might be leading a group of specialists in an area in which you are not a technical expert.

ISO 27001 is the international standard for information security. Its best-practice approach enables organisations to address their security needs through an ISMS (information security management system). The Certified ISO 27001 ISMS Foundation Training Course and Certified ISO 27001 ISMS Lead Implementer Training Course deliver a complete education and globally recognised IBITGQ qualifications.

No matter what area of cyber security you move into, you will almost certainly come across the GDPR. Data protection and data privacy are at the core of cyber security, so it’s worth getting a solid understanding of these issues. To get started, we always recommend the Certified GDPR Foundation Training Course.

Those with several years’ experience in cyber security may also consider becoming a CISM® (Certified Information Security Manager) or CISSP® (Certified Information Security Systems Professional).