Cyber Security jobs

As an IT security analyst or consultant, you may be asked to carry out duties assigned to you by the information security manager, to identify and mitigate risks arising from the organisation's use of IT systems and digital communications. Roles in this discipline can vary, from external IT security consultants to in-house penetration testers who find and patch weaknesses in computer systems.

The information security manager holds ultimate responsibility for cyber security across the organisation. Working as an information security analyst, you may be given specific systems to monitor and maintain. External cyber security consultants may be called in when a vulnerability is discovered, or to advise on proactive network security.

Typical tasks of a cyber security consultant

A cyber security consultant acts in-house or as an external contractor, performing a variety of duties. Typical tasks involve acting as a penetration tester, finding potential weaknesses in IT systems and taking pre-emptive action to close cyber security flaws.

You may be asked to 'design in' cyber security when planning and deploying new IT infrastructure. This is particularly true of IT security analyst roles and is ultimately the domain of the information security manager, who coordinates external IT security consultants and internal cyber security teams.

One of the most important duties of an information security analyst is to respond when a threat is detected. By acting quickly to close backdoors and prevent infections from spreading, you may be the difference between quickly restoring systems to full working order, free from exploits, and your organisation experiencing costly and lengthy downtime.

Qualifications required for a cyber security consultant job

A bachelor's or master's degree in computer science or similar will significantly strengthen your application, particularly for more senior cyber security consultant roles. A growing number of UK universities offer focused BSc programmes in cyber security, including the Open University.

It is possible to enter information security analyst roles as a school-leaver, if you can show that you are an advanced computer user with in-depth understanding of network security and other common IT security risks. You may have to enter at a low level, before gaining enough workplace experience to prove your capabilities higher up.

Hard/soft skills needed for a cyber security consultant job

Hard skills for cyber security consultant roles range from relatively advanced use of computers and networking equipment, to specific technical skills like ethical hacking and penetration testing. You may need to understand risks that are specific to a business environment, such as removable storage devices and network-provisioned software.

As this is a technical role, soft skills are less significant in IT security analyst positions. However, you should be able to work with large quantities of data without feeling overwhelmed. Attention to detail is essential, as many cyber security exploitations are designed to go unnoticed. You should be able to think quickly in an emergency, to take the action necessary to secure systems, especially in an information security manager role where your confidence in acting swiftly could prevent a much larger infection of your organisation's network.