The cyber security industry is wide-reaching and diverse, with a large and varied selection of roles available. The technical side of cyber security offers fast-paced and interesting roles focusing on cutting-edge technology and engineering to keep people and companies cyber-secure.
Within technical cyber security, there are a number of roles, including, but not limited to, those listed below.
Penetration Tester
This role involves you becoming an ethical hacker. Ethical hacking follows a strict set of rules, with every action documented to ensure the process remains legal and principled. Ethical hackers or penetration testers will be hired by companies and organisations to expose the security vulnerabilities within their networks. By finding the weaknesses, the correct actions can be taken to ensure a hacker cannot exploit them in the future.
Security Engineer
A security engineer develops and implements cyber security plans, based on their monitoring of vulnerabilities. In the case of any security breaches or cyber attacks, the security engineer will construct a response strategy to this.
Cryptographer
Cryptographers will decipher and also sometimes create encryption algorithms. By designing encryption algorithms, data can be more secure because it means that if the data gets stolen, it will be unreadable due to the encryption.
Malware Analyst
This role involves keeping up to date with the latest discovered viruses and to help construct software to defend against, or fight, these new threats.
There are, of course, other technical cyber security roles than those listed above. Finding your own interests within the industry can help you to determine which role may be right for you.