“Technology has no threshold”
With time as technology continues to advance, the use cases and reliance of organizations have also inclined towards the same. Every organization today relies on digital systems to store information about the organization and its clients.
It has significantly decreased human effort and simplified the overall process. However, it has also increased the risks associated with security of information. Especially, the information of clients. This has increased the demand for cyber consulting in the digital realm.
This means that there should be proper protocol to decide the security measures that will be placed within the organization.
It is the job of a cybersecurity consultant to protect the systems and ensure the organization's security is not compromised.
In this blog we will discuss the roles and responsibilities of a cybersecurity consultant, and you can become one.
What is a Cyber Security Consultant?
A cyber security consultant is an entity within organizations who identifies and mitigates cybersecurity risks.
They do a complete assessment of an organization's digital assets and check for vulnerabilities, loopholes, and weaknesses before cybercriminals can find and exploit them.
Based on their findings, they create a security strategy and implement them to protect the systems, hence safeguarding the organization's information.
Roles of a Cybersecurity Consultant
There are different roles for a cyber security consultant depending on the niche of the organization.
However, some common roles of a cybersecurity consultant are listed below.
- Assess Security Risks & Vulnerabilities
A cyber security consultant overlooks the organization's system and network to determine if the security mechanisms are working and are good enough.
They look for potential risks and vulnerabilities and fix them before it is known by any malpractitioner.
- Develop Security Strategies
According to their findings, a cybersecurity consultant develops and implements security policies and protocols to reduce the risks.
- Conduct Security Audits
Cybersecurity consultants conduct audits and assessments ensuring that the security posture of the organization is adhering to all the guidelines and regulatory standards.
- Design and Implement Security Solutions
It is the job of cybersecurity consultants to design and implement security solutions such as firewalls, data encryption techniques, and intrusion detection systems.
- Educating Employees
Educating the employees regarding the safety measures is one of the best practices to maintain security around the organization.
It reduces the chance of human error significantly. This is the responsibility of cybersecurity consultant.
- Incident Managment
The Cyber security consultant is the first one to respond to any security incident.
How you can become a Cyber Security Consultant
As the field is related to cybersecurity, it is obvious that you must have knowledge of computers and the cyber world. You must have a basic background in the field of information technology, computer science, or cybersecurity.
For education cybersecurity consultants have relevant certifications like:
- Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH)
This certification focuses on all the ethical hacking techniques. It teaches consultants how they can think like hackers to identify vulnerabilities.
- Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
CISSP comprises of a comprehensive range of cybersecurity topics, that include access control, network security, and cryptography.
If you wish to gain experience in this field, you must consider working as an entry-level professional or intern in the same field.
You can also participate in cybersecurity competitions. It improves your skills, knowledge, and experience.
The Best Way to Become a Cybersecurity Consultant
- Enhance your Analytical & Soft Skills
Documentation should be at the back of the hand for any cyber security consultant. A strong communication and analytical skills are a major necessity too.
Other than this, the ability to adapt, manage time, leadership, and work well with others are some requisites as well.
- Rule the Technical Skills
A cyber security consultant is expected to have command of HTML, JavaScript, Python, Golang, shell scripting, and SQL.
Apart from languages, an in-depth knowledge of cyberspace and industry standards, hacking methods, and knowledge of ethical hacking is required.
If you have any experience in operating proxies, load balancers, firewalls, and other security monitoring tools, it will act as a differentiator for you.
You must be proficient with a variety of operating systems, including Windows, UNIX, and Linux.
Now the most important skill for being a successful cybersecurity consultant is the knowledge of cryptography and a strong understanding of structure and infrastructure of Information technology.
- Gain Experience
After getting the required certifications, now is the time to gain some experience at entry level cybersecurity vacancies. Some roles might be:
- IT Auditor
- Penetration Tester
- Incident Responder
- Information Security Analyst
- Digital Forensic Examiner
If you give three to five years to any of these jobs, you will learn a lot about cyber security and cyber consulting.
This will give you a heads-up in the realm of cyber-consulting.
Get with a Cyber Security Company
There are various organizations working in the field of cybersecurity. Some companies like Cyber Cops provide cyber consulting to different organizations and some companies maintain cyber security within their organization.
Both these types of companies actively hire cyber security consultants to maintain the safety of organizations.
Organizations are ready to give lucrative packages if you are worth it. However, it is a job of huge responsibility. The overall security maintenance of organizations will be your responsibility.
A professional Cyber Security Consultant makes sure that the organization is always protected and follows all the regulatory and compliance guidelines.
