How To Pursue Network Security As A Career?

These days, the amount of data traffic that is exchanged over the Internet has increased by leaps and bounds. Things like biometrics and medical data are also shared over a network. The nature of the network may vary from that of an intranet that connects an organisation to that of a WAN that connects countries. It is due to the combined efforts of network engineers that the safety of the data and its protection from piracy are ensured.

Thus, it will be fair to say that network engineers play a crucial role in upholding an organisation's interests and reputation. In such a situation, it is obvious that there is ample career scope here. This article talks about network security and gives us an insight into cybersecurity while discussing the scope of pursuing a successful career here.

• What Is Cybersecurity?

In layman's terms, we can say that cybersecurity is the process of protecting the data that is present in a network. This is achieved by means of encryption and data encoding that ensures that the data or files that are present in the network can be accessed by only those who are authorised to do the same.

Cybersecurity breaches cost an organisation millions of dollars by leaking confidential data which may be information related to its clients, research papers or any other private information. It is the duty of cybersecurity experts associated with an organisation to ensure that such a thing does not happen to them.

Thus, it will be fair for us to say that cybersecurity plays an essential part in making sure that the network is safe, the organisation is heading towards its goals and its reputation is not tarnished in the process.

• Need For Network Security

Since it is a network that we are talking about, there will be a lot of people involved in the same and it will not be possible for us to monitor what each individual is doing here. That is when the role of network security comes into the picture. Here, the members of an organisation are educated about how they can keep themselves safe from potential security holes.

The users accessing websites that are dangerous or opening attachments from suspicious emails might cause malicious programs entering the network and thereby ruining it all. In case such a thing happens, a combination of active and passive devices are used.

With the help of these devices and alertness and technical competency on the part of cybersecurity experts, it can be ensured that malicious use of data and accidental damage to the same are kept under check.

• Educational Background And Skill Set Required

In order to pursue a career in the world of network security, one needs to have a bachelor's degree in the field of computer science. These days, candidates with a management degree in information systems are also considered to be eligible for the same.

Once a person has the required educational degrees, the next major thing would be to develop a sixth sense to be able to detect vulnerabilities in the information security networks. Upon doing that, the next thing in question is to identify the cybersecurity breaches that occupy and take appropriate actions against the same.

For this, one needs to have a basic understanding of the legal concepts related to network security. Thus, in order to make it big in this field, one needs to be ready to put in a lot of effort and must not shy away from keeping themselves updated about the changing technological times.

• Job Prospects

From government organisations to the world of finance, defence and retail, nothing is left unhampered by the world of digital sciences. In such a situation, organisations are ready to go to any extent in order to ensure network safety. After having obtained the required educational qualifications, candidates can start off as a security architect or penetration tester.

With due work experience, they can move on to managerial roles there. Needless to say, since both the government and the private sectors are equally dependent on the world of digital technology, there is ample job scope for qualified people in both these sectors.

• Salary And Work Environment

All of us are well aware of the fact that the world of IT is one that is very highly paid. Amongst that, cybersecurity is what takes the crown. As per government data, INR 7.8 lakhs per annum is the average salary of such professionals. The starting salary for fresher itself is INR 4.5 lakhs.

As per current data, the average work experience of network engineers is 6.5 years. Needless to say, the highest paying jobs in this sector are either in NCR or Delhi. Most of these jobs allow a person to work from the comfort of their homes.

Since the world of cyber security looks at the world from a global perspective, experts often have to work in a time zone different from that of their geographical location. This takes away the luxury of having fixed working hours and one may need to work as and when the situation demands.