5 Top Trends in Cybersecurity Jobs

Cybersecurity is one of the hottest areas of IT. An unending stream of ransomware attacks, endless attempts at phishing, and hackers constantly sniffing around the perimeter for weaknesses — all of this makes for a state of panic in IT departments. No wonder they are paying so well for positions in cybersecurity. 

Here are five top trends in cybersecurity jobs the market is seeing: 

See more: Today’s Cybersecurity Job Market

1. Outsourcing Security to MSPs 

Managed service providers (MSPs) have proven their worth since the pandemic began. They often enjoy double-digit growth year over year, and we’ll continue to see that growth even if the pandemic ends. 

“Many more small businesses now recognize the need for 24/7/365 operations but will not have the manning nor budget for full-time employees,” said Neal Dennis, threat intelligence specialist, Cyware.

“MSPs and derivatives are the easy button to answer both new compliance requirements and cybersecurity deficits.” 

2. What Degree? 

It used to be that you needed a degree in computer science or a master’s degree or Ph.D. to get a position in cybersecurity. No longer. 

“In cybersecurity jobs, education requirements have become a thing of the past,” said Laura Durfee, director of talent acquisition, DNSFilter.

“Today, highly skilled technical positions no longer require a college or advanced degree. Instead, employers are prioritizing skills and real-world experience over time spent in the classroom. It’s become more about the passion, desire and personalities that have the interest and drive to work in the field, not the doctoral degree and certifications.

“A bonus from this is that less emphasis on traditional backgrounds is creating a more diverse and inclusive cybersecurity workforce.”

3. Security Skills for Remote Work

The dynamics, demands, and expectations of workers and workplaces have changed over the last few years.

As a result, cybersecurity specialists supporting large organizations are dealing with a shifting workforce and are being tasked with giving employees the flexibility to work from anywhere on business-critical projects, while protecting the company’s data. They must learn the skills necessary to secure a network perimeter that is no longer well defined. 

“Adoption of SD-WAN, NAC, and secure wireless technologies are helping speed up the adoption to the new normal,” said Aamir Lakhani, cybersecurity researcher and practitioner at Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs. 

“Many positions that required a host of cybersecurity specialists in the field for pen testing, threat hunting, doing forensics, and many others have evolved to positions available for remote work or minimum travel.”

See more: Cybersecurity Q&A with Deepen Desai of Zscaler: Why Zero Trust is Growing

4. Get Certified

While hands-on skills have gained importance over academic qualifications, certifications still matter. The annual “Top Paying IT Certifications” list from Global Knowledge includes the hottest certifications around. The top ones are related to the cloud — as well as several in cybersecurity: 

• Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC) 
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)
• Certified Information Security Manager for (CISM)

Each earns an average salary of around $150,000 per year as organizations battle to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals.

Earning one of these qualifications is a good way to learn skills that will move you up the career ladder. Anyone completing these courses learns how to identify, evaluate, and manage IT risk. They also learn the latest ways to implement defensive and remediation measures. And they get a better handle on soft skills, such as how to communicate about security to executives and non-technical personnel.

Possessing one of these certs can help secure a position, such as security manager, security director, security engineer, security analyst, or security architect.

5. Threat Intelligence Skills 

According to Foote Partners‘ “IT Skills and Certifications Pay Index,” a number of cyber skills in high demand, including threat intelligence.

“These IT skills are among those earning the highest pay premiums,” said David Foote, an analyst at Foote Partners.

“Risk analytics exploits internal and external structured and unstructured data to model scenarios and outcomes, providing insights into areas, such as fraud risk, market risk, IT risk, and financial risk. The resulting insights provide an organization with a plethora of benefits to security, operational continuity, and competitive advantage.” 

Those venturing into threat intelligence and risk analytics should become fluent in artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) technologies. Anyone trained in cybersecurity, threat intelligence, AI, and ML will find themselves much sought after in the job market.