Did you know what happens when you click a link or open attached files in an unknown email? Your personal details, addresses, Banking Information, Debit/Credit card details can get compromised. Did you know nearly 30% of the population open Phishing Emails and Due to employee mistakes an organization/company may lose confidential industrial product data? Did you know in 93% of cases Hackers took just minutes to breach while companies took weeks or months to discover?

There have been several such hacking incidents over the years, few significant ones were:

1. Sony’s PlayStation Network: 2011
This Japanese brand contained the personal data of over 77 million users which was leaked including banking information of tens of thousands of players was also compromised.

2. Yahoo!: 2014
Over 500 million user accounts constituting the Names, dates of birth, telephone numbers and passwords were stolen.

3. eBay: 2014
Privacy of over 145 million users compromised including names, addresses, dates of birth and encrypted passwords. Tracing revealed that the hackers used three corporate employees’ credentials to access its network and had complete access for 229 days - more than enough time to compromise the user database.

4. Marriott-owned Starwood hotel group: 2018
Privacy of 500 million customers compromised which includes their names, payments, Physical adress, phone numbers, email addresses, passport numbers as well the details about the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) account, a high-end card recently launched by the American Express credit card issuer for regular travellers. The rift had been open since 2014 and was first spotted in September 2018.

5. More recently, HBO lost 1.5 terabytes of data,
including TV show episodes, scripts, manager emails and some Game of Thrones actors’ phone numbers. In 2019, the ransomware Wannacry and NotPetya made headlines.

6. Capital One: 2019
Currently reaching 100 Million affected Customers in the U.S. and 6 million in Canada. this hack one of the biggest ever.

7. April 2020. Suspected Vietnamese government
hackers used malicious apps uploaded to the Google Play app store to infect users in South and Southeast Asia with spyware capable of monitoring the target’s call logs, geolocation data, and text messages.

In the upcoming future, due to the buzzword-Internet of Things (IOT), everything we use and everywhere we go, devices would be interconnected to the internet 24/7 communicating data, sharing data, through products like smart phones, webcams, smart TV’s, internet-connected fridges. The Era is not far when electronics, sensors, actuators and software soon to be built into everything from car to home, starting from technology to unlock the door and turn on the lights on arriving at home; technology to allow cars to talk to other cars and traffic lights to prevent accidents; technology to let entire cities regulate air-quality, manage energy distribution, and regulate water supply all in real-time from thousands of buildings, each with thousands of sensors, all communicating through a city-wide network. But Remember, “MORE DEVICES, MORE THREATS”. The growth in user-centric mobile and IoT devices will see greater exploitation of personal data as according to McAfee 2016 Threats Predictions.

The Data Security Council of India (DSCI) estimated that the current size of the global Cyber Security industry to be USD 80 Billion and is anticipated to grow to USD 190 Billion by 2025. The Cyber Security Market in Asia Pacific, which stood at USD 17 Billion in 2015, is poised to grow at a CAGR of 12.3%, reaching USD 54 Billion by the year 2025. According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the increasing incidents of cyber-attacks and data protection efforts globally would create USD 35 Billion revenue opportunity and create employment opportunities for about a million professionals in India by 2025.

According to the web portal Research and Markets, the current size of the Cyber Security industry in India is estimated to be USD 3.8 Billion. Market Watchers estimated that the Indian Cyber Security market would grow at a CAGR of 15 – 20% during the years 2018-2023. Government schemes such as ‘Make in India’, ‘Start-Up India’ and ‘Digital India’ supplements the growth of Cyber Security market in India and is a linking pin towards Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models. IBM said there is a massive shortage of cyber security professionals in the country, as well across the globe urging young graduates to look this segment, which is a high-margin segment for companies, as a lucrative career option. The existing Skills Gap will take couple of years to fill up. The salary levels of Cyber Security professionals increased to around 30 percent in last one year. Due to heavy demand for skilled professionals in this field and the salaries in this domain will always be higher than the regular IT jobs.

Become:
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional.
• Certified Information Systems Auditor.
• Certified Information Security Manager.
• Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT.
• Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control.
• Information Systems Security Management.

And develop special skillset in Leadership and People Management, Ethical hacking basics, Incident Response, Computer Forensics, Business continuity, Application data security, security-mobile, cloud, IT, network, and, etc.

Career Outcomes and Job Positions:
Some of the cyber security roles include: Penetration Testers, IT Risk Analysts, Security Managers, Cyber Security Auditors, Network Security Engineers, Information Risk Auditors, Firewall and Security Device Development Professionals, Security Analysts, Intrusion Detection Specialists, Computer Security Incident Responders, Cryptologists, Vulnerability Assessors, Lead Security Architects, Chief Information Security Managers, Cyber Security Consultant, Digital Forensics Expert, Ethical hacker, Threat Management Specialist, Malware Analyst, Threat Analysis Manager, Cyber Intelligence Analyst, Security Test Specialist, Cyber Security Architect, Cyber Security Engineer, Information Security Engineer, Cyber Security- Tech Lead, Cyber Security- Project manager.

Popular Companies Hiring Cyber Security Professionals:
NTT Data Vertex Software Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (India) Pvt Ltd., Symantec Software Solutions Pvt Ltd., IBM India Pvt Ltd., Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd., Cisco Systems Inc., CGI Information Systems and Management Consultants Pvt Ltd., Dell, TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant etc.

For Further Information on degrees in Computer Science/IT Security, Bachelor of Science (Cyber Security), Bachelor of Cybersecurity, Bachelor of Cybersecurity/Bachelor of Commerce; Bachelor of Cybersecurity/Bachelor of Criminology, Bachelor of Cybersecurity/Bachelor of Psychological Science, Master of Cybersecurity (Business Operations), Master of Cybersecurity (Computer Science), and Master of Cybersecurity (Law) abroad and any other relevant information regarding foreign programs