Cyber Security – A Silver Egg Career Option

There is a huge demand for Cyber Security Professionals with crazy salaries but lack of awareness prevents many from pursuing this career

All be it, the explosion of the Internet has been a tremendous boon to mankind. There is no doubt it has made our lives extremely easier by connecting us and making the planet a global village literally. Everything we need to know, is just a click away. This is the information age.

It’s intriguing to note that by 2020 there will be nearly as 200 billion connected things. vehicles, planes, ships, mobile devices and gadgets, TVs, gadgets inside our homes, automated systems, smart cities, and even animals are being connected. Software is in the heart of everything. This is definitely changing the way we live and how we behave and interact with the world around us. The marriage between technology and software has given birth to our involuntary dependence upon it. And the more deeply it is integrated into our lives, we become more and more dependent on it. But little do we know that this dependence makes us all unquestionably vulnerable if and when it fails. For now, we are all sitting ducks!

Just imagine what happens when you’re travelling and your smartphone runs out of battery. Or for some strange reason you left it in the cab. It may feel like the end of the world; you cannot access your GPS, your contacts, or anything else. In such moments, you realize how dependent you are on your gadget. Technology is growing fast and the integration of this into computing systems and automation platforms in all sorts of enterprises that aim to facilitate and simplify our lives, makes just as susceptible to hackers including a possibility of a sudden meltdown of technology advancement, sooner or later.

On the other hand, while we could consider this a blessing due to its widespread and ease of access to anything we want to know, most of our private and sensitive information also becomes just as exposed and can be compromised easily by hackers and other cyber crimes. Our personal information or an organization’s critical data can be hacked into and stolen. The market today is ripe with news with the onslaught of cyber-attacks on many corporate organizations, government agencies and the military etc. The sudden spurt in the frequency and complexities of these cyber attacks has rung an alarm bell for organizations. Everybody has woken up to the importance of Cyber security.

Cyber security is the need of the hour. And awareness regarding security is growing as fast as hackers are finding more aggressive ways to beat the system. With the advancement in technology and software, cybercrimes and security breaches have spiked up. In the report of State of Cyber Security 2017: Current Trends in the Threat Landscape, it shows that only 53 percent of organizations have a process in place to handle and recover from ransomware incidents – a very concerning statistic, but perhaps one that will change markedly in the aftermath of the massive WannaCry attacks. Every year, thousands of cybersecurity problems are identified in technologies and the enormous scope of those global attacks made it clear that any organization unprepared for such kind of ransomware is in need of an instant rethink.

For instance, until 2015, India had a shortfall of more than 5 Lakh cyber security professionals, which clearly indicates the future of cyber security professionals in India and a similar growing need across the world — huge demand but an absolute short supply of qualified and trained professionals. Cybersecurity Ventures also projects that by 2021, $1 trillion will be spent globally on cybersecurity, according to their Q3 2016 Market Report.

In the US, Raytheon and NCSA focused on the younger generation, commissioning Zogby Analytics to survey 18 to 26-year olds in 12 countries around the world on their attitudes toward careers in cyber security. The survey found that perhaps the most important step in closing the talent gap is making millennials aware that there is such a field and that it’s growing. The survey found that, globally, 33% of young men said they were more likely to consider a career in the field than they would have been a year before. That figure was 24% for women. The report suggested that much of this has to do with communication: 66% of women said that no teacher or counselor had ever discussed careers in cyber security with them, compared with 57% of men. (Courtesy – Gerrard Cowan). Hence, the importance of bolstering cyber security capabilities is clear to all responsible enterprises. The ones who commit to developing a strong culture of cyber security and providing the resources necessary to build skilled and well-trained security teams are the ones that will thrive in today’s and in the future global economy.

As you’ve read above, there is a huge potential for job opportunities in this vertical. Cyber attackers are growing, but the talent pool of defenders is not keeping pace. Cyber security skills are crucial to the success of our digital future. And, once you graduate, you’ll have the right knowledge and acquired skills to take on an expert security role within businesses, government or law enforcement. So, we’ve mentioned below some promising career options for aspiring students who could consider pursuing related academic courses from the top Universities across popular countries.

Eye Opening Facts for you:

A report from Cisco states there are currently an estimated one million cybersecurity job openings globally. This demand is projected to increase to six million by 2019, with an expected shortfall of 1.5 million. (source – LA TROBE University)

Source: Indeed

In April 2017, the government of Australia launched its $230m Cyber Security Strategy with 33 initiatives aimed at improving defences and creating a ‘cyber smart nation’.

So if you’re interested to know more about which countries and Universities/Colleges that offer the best and most competitive Cyber Security Professional Courses and Programs with an assured career, then click below as per your choice of country and University/s to know more.