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A well-developed cyber security management degree program gives you the tools you need to become an effective leader in this field. Using several approaches, this degree program pulls from psychology, management, technology, science, law, and business to help you obtain the most up-to-date knowledge and skills you need as you work to protect the cyber-infrastructure and assets of your employer.
This degree program teaches you how to protect the critical information and assets of an organization, use real-time security solutions and continuous monitoring, take part in investigating cyber incidents, and formulate, update, and discuss short- and long-term cyber security policies and strategies.
Featured Online Programs
Steps to Becoming a Cyber Security Manager
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Step 1: Enroll in a Bachelor’s or Master’s Cyber Security Management Program
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Step 2: Participate in an Internship for Cyber Security Managers
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Step 3: Find a Job in Cyber Security Management
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Step 4: Earn Cyber Security Certifications
Step 1: Enroll in a Bachelor’s or Master’s Cyber Security Management Program
As you look for cyber security degree programs at the bachelor of science level, focus on those programs that give students a wide foundation of disciplines in their coursework—these give you the most up-to-date skills and knowledge so that, once you begin working, you’ll be equipped to protect your employer’s cyber-infrastructure and other valuable assets.
Programs from schools that have been designated National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, or any other CAE designation, are the most attractive programs for you to consider; the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the National Security Agency (NSA) were active in examining and naming these degree programs.
Coursework will teach you about protecting an organization’s information and assets using best practices and risk management. It will help you understand how to combine continual monitoring along with real-time security solutions to protect and defend against attacks. You may also take part in mock investigation of cyber incidents and assist in recovery of operations.
Step 2: Participate in an Internship for Cyber Security Managers
All of the work you do in your classes becomes even more valuable when you can apply it during an internship. You’ll normally find and take part in your internship in your junior or senior year. This is usually counted as a class, which gives you credits for participating in real-world events on the job. The hope in an internship is that you’ll be put to work in real-world settings on real issues, giving you the opportunity to gain professional experience. Getting this experience helps you to put together the material you learned in class lectures and gives you something to list as experience on your resume. Make sure you look for a strong, experiential internship where you’ll be doing more than filling a seat at a job site. This will support the development of the skills you need.
Step 3: Find a Job in Cyber Security Management
Once graduation is close, it’s time for you to begin narrowing down those employers you’re the most interested in. You may do this based on their job announcements or you may have always been interested in one specific employer, in which case, you should probably start looking into them long before your senior year. It may not be easy finding the security jobs in cyber security that most interest you, but they are out there and there are plenty of jobs that can act as a steppingstone to your dream career if you still need to gain experience in the field.
You may not begin working as a cyber security manager right away; in fact, it’s unlikely that you would since a managerial position nearly always requires significant experience. Instead, you may work as a security analyst, but you can easily move into a cyber security manager position once you gain experience.
As long as you have the required skills and knowledge, you’ll be able to find a position in cyber security fairly quickly; cyber-crime costs will soon hit $6 trillion. Your knowledge and skills are badly needed as attacks on computer networks are only continuing and getting worse, with the cyber-thieves becoming more and more sophisticated.
Step 4: Earn Cyber Security Certifications
The security certificates you can earn rely heavily on your education, job title, and tasks or functions you perform. As of 2019, more than 3,800 cyber breaches were exposed. More than 4.1 billion records were exposed to attackers. This is a 54 percent increase over breaches reported during the same time frame in 2018. Clearly, your knowledge and experience are needed—but your certifications communicate to your employer that you have the skills they want.
Whether you are looking to become a Certified Information Security Auditor, Certified Ethical Hacker or a Certified Information Systems Security Professional, you can earn certifications that will give you access to more career options. The effort you make to study and pass the exams to earn your certifications won’t be the only time you must think about them; it’s not one and done. You’ll also often have to compete continuing education in order to renew current certifications. How often you must do so depends on the certification, but most require renewal every couple of years.
Career & Salary
Where Might You Work?
As a beginning Information Technology (IT) Manager, your average salary is likely to be around the average of $55,000. Your salary could eventually rise to $134,000 at the high end of the scale.
If instead you work as a senior IT support technician, you may work for private companies, some of which are involved with aerospace design. Here, you could find yourself working with varying types of software and hardware. Or you could work for a private contractor located on a military base or in a hospital. In this type of position, you’ll offer server, software, and desktop support. You may also offer other services, such as peripheral planning and support, release management, imaging services, and other duties depending on the requirements of your employer.
Working as a Full Stack Engineer, you would handle project management of various technology applications and processes, making sure to work within project budgets and time frames. If you find work as an information systems security engineer, you’ll maintain an enterprise-level information technology system, including intrusion detection and access control. You’ll offer support for security planning and assessment, risk analysis, and risk management. This security management position means you will help to protect an entire system.
As you can see, where you’ll work really depends on you and where you decide to take your career. The industry is so lacking in qualified personnel that you can pretty much make your career your own.