A cyber security analyst is a highly in-demand job these days, and the salary is not too bad as well.
So in today's video, I'm going to be sharing a realistic path
to entry as a cyber security analyst with zero experience.
Hi, everyone, welcome back to my channel. I am Venicia. And I talk all about cybersecurity and
how you can succeed as a woman in cybersecurity. So if that sounds good to you, then definitely hit
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Alright, so cybersecurity, and cybersecurity analysts.
These roles are so highly in demand that professionals are needed, there is definitely
a gap in the industry in putting the right professionals and the right people in these roles.
And being a cybersecurity analyst could be a great space for you to start your cybersecurity career.
Because the bar to entry a lot of the times is much lower than what you would find for a
security engineer, which would maybe have to take a longer period of time to get
into the industry because of more skills and different skill sets that would be required.
So today, I'm going to be sharing five core fundamental tips really on how you
can bolt out your path to becoming a cybersecurity analyst. And in an achievable timeframe.
Step number one called some of the basic skills.
Now, if you watched my video last week,
then you would have seen that networking is one of the core fundamental basics that you require
within cybersecurity, especially if you want to get into a cybersecurity analyst type role.
And there are really two options here for certifications that I think are great.
If you want to go the certification route. And there could be the CompTIA network plus
certification, that's a great certification to start off with. Or if you have some basic systems
and basic networking knowledge, maybe you did a bit of self study before, or you played on some of
the networking technology components already, then the CCNA by Cisco could be a great option for you.
That's an Associate Certification but that it's very important that you study
and you do the certification, and you actually write the exams because remember,
from an HR perspective, you need some certifications. And so you can study
and you can build the skills. But if you don't have the credential,
you might find it a lot more difficult to get into the field and to get into the industry.
So definitely check out the CompTIA network plus certification to start with and start learning the
basics of networking. If you're starting out from zero, this certification could take you
between five to eight weeks, depending on how fast you learn and grasp the concept of networking.
And as I said in the video that I made previously,
don't skim over the basics. These are some of the core fundamentals. And it's
very important that you get a thorough understanding of these fundamentals.
So that would be step one, build your skills in networking and give yourself that
month and a half to two-month time frame. To do that. Step number two is where you would start
to gain insight into security. Now, there's a lot of free resources available for you to
achieve this step. And you can check out platforms like Cybrary, you can check out various YouTube
channels. If you don't follow me on Instagram, definitely follow me on Instagram because I share
a lot of resources on the that free and paid resources that could really help you out here.
One of the certifications that I would absolutely recommend when you get to this
step is the CompTIA. Security Plus, again, CompTIA is a great exam buddy and certification provider,
it's well recognized in the industry, and to have that certification on your name
really will help you to get to the next level or to get HR to have that look at your resume
because now you have validation that you know the core fundamentals of security, which is important.
So here again, focus on understanding those basic concepts of security.
It is a very wide type of certification, meaning it doesn't go too deep into the concept, but
there's a lot of information to get through and a lot of things to learn with the certification.
So it may take you a bit of time again. Again, the predicted timeframe for this
would be if you have no security knowledge then definitely between five and eight weeks.
So again, give yourself that meant two month and a half to two months to study for the certification
and actually write the exam write the exam, it's very important. Alright, number three.
Now that you've done the networking skills and the security plus skills. Now it's time to get
into some of these platforms and start practicing new skills. Depending on how much capacity you
have while you are studying, or in the process of studying for your certifications, you may
as well also get onto some of these platforms and practice your skills while you're studying.
But if you don't have that much time, maybe you're working or you're doing this after hours,
then definitely after you've written your security plus, and you have that fundamental
basic knowledge, then it is now the point at which you actually want to get some
hands on practice. And building skills is the most important thing here.
The certifications is very important, it validates your knowledge of what you've
learned building skills and demonstrating that you can do the job is absolutely critical.
So some of the platforms that you can actually use to build your skills will include
range force, range force is a great platform for analysts to practice their skills. It's
more on the blue team side of things, and more on the defensive side of things, and you get the
SOC level one and level two platforms to practice on. And there's a bunch of the exercises that
actually free in the Community Edition. And so you can pay for it after if you really need to.
But in Community Edition, there's a lot of things that's free play team Labs is also a great option
for practicing. And again, there's some of it that's free, and some of it that's paid,
and then let's defend that I owe is great as well, there's so many great platforms.
So find one that you like find one that you want to use that you understand, that is conceptually
teaching you what what you need to learn to become a security analyst, and practice those
skills. And to practice your skills, I would say you really need a solid amount of time to
actually practice your skills, I wouldn't say that less than three months would be sufficient here.
Because it takes time, it takes time to understand these concepts it takes time to understand and to
build out the system that you need to build out and to actually practice these things hands on.
And for you to get a job, you need to be able to know what you're talking about,
you need to be able to know that you have worked in a sock type scenario before you
have worked in the lab of that sword before. And so it's really important
that you take the time here and that you build your skills and your practice and your skills.
All right, so point number four. Now that you
have actually you're practicing your skills on an ongoing basis, I would actually
add a more security operations focused type certification at this point in the journey.
Because you need things that's gonna set you apart, there's hundreds of people that's actually
trying to become security analysts. And so you need things that's going to
let your resume stand out from the crowd prove that you
are able to do security analysis work and security operations work.
And so that's important. So one of the common certifications in this space would be
the CompTIA cybersecurity analyst certification
that the CIS A plus certification, that's a great certification to do.
And then another one, actually, if you're looking to get into the cloud space, from a
security operation and analysis perspective, then looking at the Microsoft ac 200, certification
would be a great run into the security operations and analysis,
certification. And it would be great to get you into organizations that could be
having workloads in the cloud. And so you would then be able to demonstrate
that you have learned how to be a security analyst and cloud based platforms like Azure.
And that's another important point that I want to leave you with here is that do things that is
sort of bonus type components that lets you stand out from the crowd. So if you have an organization
in mind that you want to work for this is your dream organization. It could be Microsoft, it
could be a financial services organization. Then, knowing what systems that organization uses could
help you and could help you to actually do certain study certain components and do certain things.
Do just elevate your resume for when you are applying for a job at a particular organization.
So if it's Microsoft, do the Microsoft ac 200. If it is a bank, and they use a specific platform,
or you know that they're moving to cloud and it's Amazon, then do an Amazon security
certification just to set yourself a little bit apart and distinguish your resume with you know,
this person has got that extra credential. You may have an ID certification are something
that's just different about you and about your resume that sets you apart and makes you stand
out from all that the people that's going for this exact same job that you're applying for.
And then finally, salaries for security analysts could range
from depending on which level you're at. But basic Scytl salaries range from bad 40k to 65k.
And being intermediate or SOC level two type roles will be between 65 and 85k.
And then, there after the level threes are the more advanced analyst roles can really
range to a very high salary bracket, in actual fact, from 90 to over 150,
or sometimes even 200, depending on your level of skills, but depending
on what you're doing in your day job as a security analyst, or as a sock manager.
So it is a very lucrative career path, it doesn't take
very long to enter based on the path that I've set out for you here today, it would take about
six between six and eight months of you doing the work and putting in the dedicated focus.
So if you start now, by the end of 2022, you could be in your job as a security analyst.
The final component and I will add this to every video where I say if you want to start
out in cybersecurity, this is what you must do is one of the most critical components is do
not forget to network, you need to network and you need to share what you're doing unlinked in
and you need to build your network on LinkedIn. follow others cybersecurity professionals search
for the title sock analyst or cybersecurity analyst, information security analysts
and find people in LinkedIn who are information security analysts so that
you can connect with them and both networks etc. Don't stalk anybody. Just go on there.
Build your skills, build your profile, share what you're doing, share what you're learning,
so that it is easier for a potential employer and HR representative to find
your profile and see what you're doing on your path into cybersecurity.
Alright friends, that is it for this video. I hope that you learned something. I hope that
this will help you out if you are an aspiring cybersecurity analyst.
If you'd like to see more of these videos around the different paths into cybersecurity, please
comment the path that you'd like to see in the comments below. And I'll catch you next time. Bye