The first job I chose to research was “Digital Forensics Analyst”. A Digital Forensics Analyst is responsible for analyzes digital media sources including, phones, hard drives, emails, network traffic and many more. I found this job interesting because of my interest in operating systems and file management. A Digital Forensics Analyst needs to be an expert at all operating systems and devices to be effective at preserving and uncovering data to be used as evidence. The Digital Forensics Analyst need to follow precise procedures to ensure the integrity and chain of custody when handling sensitive material and evidence. This job would involve several interdisciplinary aspects such as criminal justice, psychology and sociology. A Digital Forensics Analyst would need to consider actions criminals take to hide and store sensitive material and data to be able to find it without harm. A psychological perspective would be necessary to understand the state of mind a criminal or person being investigated might be in and how what you find on their hard drives or other sources can lead to looking for other evidence. Understanding from a sociological perspective can give a hint to whether or not what you find on a hard drive is socially acceptable and whether anything stands out.
An ethical or “White Hat Hacker” also known as a penetration tester, sets out to find exploits and vulnerability in pre-approved target systems. The penetration tester needs to have many skills pertaining to computers and networking that would allow them to conduct these operations. The interdisciplinary perspective that stands out on this on would be philosophy. A penetration tester needs to be morally an ethically sound so that they do not use their skills for harm. A White Hat Hacker would also need to be considerate of the criminal justice system to understand what criminals are after and how they would go about getting it, so that they can target areas that need to be the most secure. This could also apply to the penetration tester themselves so that they understand the limits of their own activities.
Though not really a surprise I found that both of these jobs can be acquired without degree’s in that specific field. If you have the skills to perform the tasks and some relevant certifications you can be in consideration for acquiring a job in the related fields. Which says a lot about the demand and availability in these fields currently.
https://www.cisa.gov/cyber-defense-forensics-analyst
https://niccs.cisa.gov/workforce-development/cyber-security-workforce-framework/digital-forensics
https://www.eccouncil.org/what-is-digital-forensics/#phase-i—first-response
https://cybersecuritycareer.org/ethical-hackers/