About This Assignment

The Cybersecurity Professional Career Paper is a research project designed to explore a specific professional pathway within the cybersecurity field through the lens of the social sciences. For this assignment, I chose to research the role of a Security Operations Center (SOC) Analyst.

The goal of this paper is to demonstrate that a career in cybersecurity is not purely a technical endeavor, but one that is deeply intertwined with human behavior, sociology, and ethics. This assignment required an analysis of how professional responsibilities—such as threat detection and incident response—rely on social science research to be effective.

Connection to CYSE 201S

This research connects my career goals to the core themes of Cybersecurity and the Social Sciences by examining:

• Human Factors: Analyzing how SOC analysts identify social engineering and psychological manipulation tactics.
• Organizational Sociology: Understanding how workplace culture and team communication influence risk perception and decision-making during a cyber crisis.
• Social Responsibility: Investigating how the work of a SOC analyst protects marginalized groups and addresses digital inequality by securing the data of vulnerable populations.