Introduction

There are many different job levels within cybersecurity, from entry level to senior grade; each one is important, but the most important part of the field is the time it takes to work there to go up in the ranks. The jobs within cybersecurity are expansive, and each one is as important as the other, but the job I decided on was Cybersecurity Analyst, also known as Vulnerability Assessment Analyst. 

What is a Vulnerability Assessment Analyst

Vulnerability Assessment Analysts are some of the main defenses within the Cybersecurity field. They are the ones who constantly fight against cyberthreats. Unlike many other cybersecurity jobs that solve the problem after it’s happened, Vulnerability Assessment Analysts solve the issue in real time or before it happens. They then write detailed reports on how it happened and what better ways we can protect ourselves in the future.

The Tools used by Vulnerability Assessment Analyst

One thing I’ve noticed about Vulnerability assessment Analyst is that many of their tools are simple demonstrations of problems, so they can practice for events to come. This is mostly since the main issues they deal with are in real time, and thus they won’t have some swiss army knife of tools to pull out, in a way, they are the tool themselves, so within them, practicing is the only means to protect our security more easily. Besides simulations, another tool that they use is management tools to help them control and look over different sectors within their field, These can be things like OpenVAS or Qualys, which are management tools to scan your data to make sure everything is in order.

Why Vulnerability Assessment Analyst Matters

As stated before, due to the Vulnerability Assessment Analyst being a real-time security force, they are needed around the clock and most of the time they are on whats called a grave yard shift, and thus they get more hours within the field to better hone their skills so that they can be promoted within the field and teach the next generation on ways to protect ourselves from cyber security threats as well as learning and coming up with new strategies to protect ourselves. Another reason why this job is so important is that our cybersecurity backbone is the general populace, and as such, having humans also be one of the main lines of defense only strengthens us.

Why I chose this field and how it relates to our class.

The reason for choosing this field is that I am just finding this way more interesting than all the rest. This is one of the main jobs that require graveyard shifts, as stated before. I believe that graveyard shifts in general are extremely dangerous when you have so many people’s security on the line. Many businesses get around this by not having a set standard time for many of these positions, so the work hours may not always be the same, depending on the time. That’s what truly piqued my interest because I think this is a valuable moment to talk about how many people in the cybersecurity field are treated, as cybersecurity workers are often overworked and experience burnout at a higher rate than many other work fields.

Conclusion

Overall, Vulnerability Assessment Analysts are extremely hard-working people within the cybersecurity field, and I argue that they are one of the most important roles to protect us. I also think that cybersecurity needs to do a better job at treating it’s employees like humans, because even though they are a great wall that protects us from those who wish to do us harm they are still humans and need time and care to truly keep us safe overall.