What is the Outlook for Cyber Security Professionals?

Cyber security has been evolving since internet connectivity graduated from meager kilobit networks to reliable kilobyte connections that could transmit the simplest of the malware types. With bigger chunks of our life going online, cyber threats have grown from a merely annoying virus or breach to huge and crippling possibilities that have diverse financial, operational, and strategic impacts.

The big boom in mobile payment processing, social media, and cloud computing increased the general target base, consequently drawing more attention to both cyber criminals and security experts.

What About Cyber Security in the Future?

Information security breaches are becoming a norm. It is almost impossible to read a weeks' worth of news without coming across information security breach news of some kind. It doesn’t matter whether consumer or commercial levels, the news are always there and are almost overwhelming.

Terms like phishing, spamware, and ransomware are becoming common place. Either a great percentage of the internet knows these terms or is victims to such attacks.

With a bigger percentage of the internet already feeling and dreading the impact of cybercrime, the future of cyber security professionals looks ever so bright.

Cyber Security Professionals Have to Be a Step Ahead

Cyber security experts are the first line of defense against such attacks. With cyberattacks evolving by the day, the defense line has to be a master of past breaches and a flexible force that anticipates the next attack before it happens.

You Will Need a Strong Foundation in Cyber Security

Cyber security experts have to brace for new challenges that leverage each new communication protocol and device that hits the market.

Mobile malware and security breaches will increase as manufacturers cram more connectivity and features into these devices. Any innovation that isn’t fully tested will be a potential backdoor to even the safest credit card security standards.

Moreover, cyber security will migrate from the common mobile and computer platforms and move into:

• The internet of things where different sensors and actuators would be potential targets
• Cloud computing platforms will be a target at a personal or commercial levels with more applications and games adopting the SaaS model
• Open source software vulnerabilities that will have cyber criminals toy with readily available code to identify weakness in existing systems running on open source solutions
• Data integrity related attacks that will focus on changing data, rather than stealing or corrupting it

The Birth of Dedicated Security Operation Centers

Unlike the past when a cybersecurity expert was a luxury to an enterprise, more will opt to create a dedicated security operations center as long as they have data worth protecting. While some will outsource to dedicated cloud service providers and subscribe to robust API integrations for security and redundancy, the demand for cyber security professionals will get more personal hence creating more job opportunities.

Since there is the possibility of using algorithms to handle the bulk of the intrusion and vulnerability testing, cyber security experts will need to move beyond basic troubleshooting into a creative thinking cocoon that will put them, and the virtual property they protect, a step ahead of the criminals.

ECPI University offers bachelor and master degree programs in Cyber Security that could be your entry into this exciting field! Our accelerated programs mean you could earn your bachelor's degree in as little as 2.5 years!

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

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