Instructions:
Using the article 50 Cybersecurity Titles That Every Job Seeker Should Know About Links to an external site., research two or more of these jobs that are of interest to you. What disciplines do you see represented in these 50 jobs? What skills are required for the two jobs you selected? What was your biggest surprise? Be sure to include links to your research.
The two jobs that stuck out to me were Tier 1 Security Operations Center (SOC) Analyst and Cryptanalyst. I learned about the job of a Tier 1 SOC Analyst in my previous cybersecurity class. They are the ones sifting through logs gathered by Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems. The Tier 1 SOC Analyst has to determine whether the logs are concerning or just false-positives, and to elevate them to higher tiers or disregard them accordingly. It is also their job to think of solutions for clients to implement to prevent or mitigate future attacks. Tier 1 Analysts need to be able to up to date on cyber trends and be willing to ask questions. I was most surprised by how much baseline knowledge is required for an “entry level” position.
As for Cryptanalysts, their job is to reverse encrypted data back to its original form. They are often employed by government agencies or law enforcement agencies to decrypt data taken from criminals. In order to decrypt the data cryptanalysts have to identify in which way the data was encrypted, form an efficient process to find the key to decrypt the data, and ensure that they have the correct solution. They may also work alongside the people making encryption techniques to find fatal flaws in their design. Cryptanalysts have to be innovative and have good communication skills. The thing that surprised me about them is that the FBI and NSA have their own three year programs to train cryptanalysts.
Sources: