{"id":263,"date":"2026-04-25T18:05:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/?p=263"},"modified":"2026-04-25T18:05:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T18:05:52","slug":"cyber-security-professional-career-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/2026\/04\/25\/cyber-security-professional-career-paper\/","title":{"rendered":"Cyber Security Professional Career Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Cyber Security Analyst<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Introduction<\/strong>:<br>A cybersecurity analyst is responsible for protecting computer systems, networks, and data from<br>cyber threats. This job is important today because almost everything that we do is online, from<br>banking to school, to healthcare systems. Cyberattacks like phishing, ransomware, and data<br>breaches happen constantly, so cybersecurity analyst work to prevent, detect, and respond to<br>these attacks. The purpose of this paper is to explain how social science concepts are used in this<br>career and how human behavior plays a major role in cybersecurity. It will also look at how this<br>profession affects society, especially marginalized groups, and why social science is important in<br>understanding cybercrime.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Social Science Principles in Cybersecurity:<\/strong><br>Cybersecurity is not just technical, it is heavily influenced by human behavior. Social science<br>research helps cybersecurity analyst understand why people fall for scams, how attackers<br>manipulate victims, and what motivates cybercriminals. A major part of these cyberattacks relies<br>on psychology, especially social engineering, where attackers trick people into giving away<br>sensitive information.<br>Cybersecurity analyst also studies human-computer interaction to understand how users behave<br>online. For example, people often reuse weak passwords or ignore security warnings just because<br>of convenience.<br>In daily work, cybersecurity analyst uses these insights to build awareness programs and reduce<br>human error, which is one of the biggest causes of security breaches.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Application of Key Concepts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several key concepts from class apply directly to cybersecurity analyst roles. One major concept<br>is risk assessment, which involves identifying threats and evaluating how like they are to happen<br>and how much damage they could cause.<br>An important key concept that sticks with the work of a cybersecurity analyst is Marxian<br>economic theory. This theory focuses on how power and resources are evenly distributed, and<br>how those with more power can sometimes exploit those with less. A cybersecurity analyst uses<br>this understanding to help reduce those power gaps by strengthening defenses. For example, they<br>may prioritize protecting sensitive data, improving access controls, and educating users who are<br>most vulnerable.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Marginalization:<\/strong><br>In a cybersecurity analyst career, understanding marginalization is important because not all<br>users or community have the same level of knowledge or digital protection. Low income<br>communities, for example, may not have access to updated devices, secure networks, or<br>cybersecurity education, which makes them more vulnerable to cyberattacks. Cybersecurity<br>analyst must consider these risks when developing security systems because attackers often<br>target individuals who are less likely to recognize threats.<br>Another issue cybersecurity analyst deal with is data privacy and surveillance concerns.<br>Marginalized groups may already experience higher levels of monitoring in society, so weak<br>cybersecurity protections can increase their exposure to data misuse or unfair targeting. Because<br>of this, analyst must think about ethics when designing systems, making sure security measures<br>protect users without creating harm or bias.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Career Connection to Society:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cyber security analyst plays a major role in keeping society safe because they protect the<br>systems that people rely on every day. This includes hospitals that store patient records, banks<br>that handle financial transactions, and schools that manage student data. If these systems are not<br>properly protected, it can lead to serious consequences like financial loss, identity theft, or<br>disruption of essential public services. Their work supports the stability of modern society and<br>ensures that critical systems continue to operate safely and efficiently.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Scholarly Journal Articles:<\/strong><br>Cybersecurity analysts focus a lot on how human behavior affects security because research<br>shows most breaches happen because of people, not just systems (Pollini et al. 2022). This is<br>important in their job because they must pay attention to things like mistakes, weak passwords,<br>and risky user behavior. Social engineering is also a big issue they deal with since attackers often<br>trick people using trust, fear, or urgency instead of breaking into systems directly (Wang et al.,<br>2021). Because of this, cybersecurity analyst spend time helping organizations build awareness<br>training and better defenses against manipulation. Research also shows that not everyone is<br>equally good at spotting phishing emails, which is why training is a major part of their work<br>(Steves et al., 2020). These studies help analyst understand how to better protect users by<br>focusing on human behavior as much as technology.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Conclusion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cybersecurity analysts are essential to protecting both individuals and large systems from cyber<br>threats. Their work is not only technical but also deeply connected to human behavior, social<br>inequality, and public safety. By understanding how people interact with technology and how<br>different groups are affected by cyber risks, analyst can build stronger and more inclusive security systems. This career plays a major role in protecting society\u2019s digital infrastructure and<br>maintaining trust in the modern online world.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Work Cited:<\/strong><br>Pollini, A., Callari, T. C., Tedeschi, A., Ruscio, D., &amp; Guerri, D. (2022). Leveraging human<br>factors in cybersecurity: An integrated methodological approach. Cognition, Technology &amp;<br>Work, 24, 371\u2013390.<br>Wang, Z., et al. (2021). Social engineering in cybersecurity: A domain ontology and knowledge<br>graph application examples. Cybersecurity, 4(31)<br>R<br>Steves, M., Greene, K., &amp; Theofanos, M. (2020). Categorizing human phishing detection<br>difficulty: A Phish Scale. Journal of Cybersecurity, 6(1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cyber Security Analyst Introduction:A cybersecurity analyst is responsible for protecting computer systems, networks, and data fromcyber threats. This job is important today because almost everything that we do is online, frombanking to school, to healthcare systems. Cyberattacks like phishing, ransomware, and databreaches happen constantly, so cybersecurity analyst work to prevent, detect, and respond tothese attacks. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wds_primary_category":6},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32118"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":264,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions\/264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/alewi073\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}