Want to Become Indispensable to Tech? Learn Cyber Security

We’ll start out with a hypothetical. Imagine if some bad actor got access to your alarm clock and could arbitrarily change your wake-up time. One day, your phone would set off a siren every seven minutes starting at 4:01 a.m. The next day, the alarm wouldn’t go off at all, and you’d miss that early-morning big interview you’d been prepping for.

It’d be torture. And that hypothetical is based on someone having access to only your clock. With skills in fending off cyber threats, you could keep that from happening. 

Of course, digital security is about so much more than just helping people control their own circadian rhythms. It’s crucial throughout tech, and this is what will make cyber security specialists vital for years to come. So let’s dig into that.

Here’s why cyber security is a good choice for anyone looking for in-demand know-how.

What is cyber security?

To make sure we’re clear on what we’re talking about, here’s a quick definition:

That’s the universal reality we’re coming from, but it doesn’t really elucidate the field in any detail. So let’s get a little more specific.

What do people in cyber security do?

Naturally, within this field, there are numerous different specializations. However, the work of cyber security tends to fall into one of two categories: defense and offense.

Defensive cyber security

This is typically what people first think about when they hear “cyber security.” This is all about monitoring security systems, assessing potential threats, responding to incidents, and building the systems that protect an organization’s digital environment — from customer data to crucial technical infrastructure.

Basically, this type of work focuses on constructing the walls around the sensitive data and systems that need protection and ensuring those digital fortifications are strong and functional.

Offensive cyber security

This category of cyber security is the perfect complement to defensive strategies. It’s all about taking on the role of a bad actor — poking and prodding and straining your organization’s systems to try to expose their weak points. This uncovers the vulnerabilities that actual bad actors might exploit to gain access to sensitive data or tech.

Think about this as people sticking chisels into those above-mentioned metaphorical walls to find the places that need additional strengthening.

A note here, though: this is not to say that when you go for a career in cyber security, you’ll necessarily only take on one of these two types of work. Often, cyber security specialists can find themselves doing both offensive and defensive tasks.

This makes experts in cyber security indispensable

Just from those distinctions, you might already get a sense of how this work makes cyber security specialists vital to any organization. But let’s really get into it. Companies only thrive because people trust them. Consumers believe that the sensitive data they give — their names, addresses, purchases — won’t end up exposed to the wrong people. 

Think about it: would you even buy a bottle of anti-dandruff shampoo online if you thought someone could know that you, the individual who lives at your address, sometimes needs to look after the health of their scalp? Probably not. And that’s not to mention the danger that could come from leaking something like your social security number or credit card information. Or something even more personal.

The impact of cyber security in real life: Vastaamo

Consider the case of Vastaamo, a former psychotherapy service provider from Finland. It hosted extremely sensitive information, the sort of deeply private information shared with therapists and that, at all costs, needed to be kept confidential. It wasn’t. Even the therapists’ notes were stolen. 

The bad actor who breached this data demanded the equivalent of nearly half a million euros in bitcoin, or they would start posting the most private information that people had shared in their sessions. The company didn’t pay, and data was published on the dark web. Real people had their secrets exposed. Lives were pushed into chaos, and the human toll remains incalculable.

Because of the breach and its subsequent fallout, the company was declared bankrupt four months after it announced the hack.

So the work of a cyber security specialist is crucial. It helps keep people’s most private thoughts strictly between them and the professionals they trust, and it ensures that companies offering important, sensitive services can continue to do so safely. 

You can see why people with this skill set would be so in demand.

The data proves the point

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) backs this up. Take a look at their projected growth for information security analysts over the next nine years:

We’ll emphasize what this shows: the BLS predicts that information security analyst employment  will increase at a rate that is over eight times higher than the average and nearly three times the rate for computer occupations in general. 

The BLS isn’t ambiguous about its findings, either, saying:

Oh, and one more thing: the BLS also found that the median annual wage for these specialists was $120,360 — two and a half times more than the economy-wide median.

A bootcamp can get you there

You don’t have to go back to college to snag this dependable, well-paid job. In fact, in just six months, you can get the qualifications that can land you a new career. How are we so sure? We straight up asked over 1,000 decision makers about their hiring practices. Their answers were unambiguous — 79% of respondents were already hiring bootcamp grads.

And it goes deeper too — 86% of decision makers were confident about bringing bootcamp grads onto their teams.

See if cyber security is the career for you

Curious about this field, but want to really make sure it’s right for you? Take our career quiz to find out.