Cyber Security Technician
Careers Explorer:
Providing the first line of cyber security support.
Overview
As a Cyber Security Technician, you will provide first line cyber security support.
An occupation found in all sectors where information is held digitally and where that information is an asset that needs to be protected including but not limited to finance, retail, telecoms, health, media, manufacturing and local authorities.
Responsible for supporting a cyber security function (frequently a Security Operations Centre or Network Operations Centre), you’ll work under supervision and will be conducting specific cyber security tasks to defined procedures and standards.
Specific cyber security mechanisms and controls that an individual would be required to implement would include: patching software, installing software updates, implementing access control, configuring firewalls, security incident and event management tools (SIEM) tools and protection tools (Anti-virus, Anti-malware, Anti-spam).
There’s so many opportunities to progress in this field.
Top 5 Tasks
- Monitor for attacks, intrusions and unusual, unauthorised or illegal activity
- Know when to escalate a threat to a higher level
- Work with internal and external stakeholders under general direction
- Work within a team
- Implement cyber security mechanisms.
Salary
Starting salaries for those who work in cyber security are between £25,000 and £35,000, while someone with several years of experience, can expect to earn up to £50,000.
In higher level leadership or managerial roles, you can earn in excess of £70,000.
Am I Suited?
- Technical competency
- Analytical thinker
- Team player
- Good communicator
- Works well under pressure
The estimated cost of cybercrime across Greater Manchester is in the region of £860m per year, despite up to 80 per cent of cybercrime being preventable.
Qualifications
There has never been a better time to get into cyber security, with growing demand for experts promising increased salaries and job opportunities.
Technically, you don’t need any cyber security experience to get started, though many people entering the field will come from jobs that have similar skillsets, such as systems administration or information analysis.
If you can demonstrate the relevance of your existing experience – what recruiters call ‘transferable skills’ –there’s no reason why you can’t get a foothold on the cyber security career ladder.
