With the advent of the Internet since the 1990s, numerous professions have appeared as the power and sophistication of IT systems and architectures have increased. Data security has become a major strategic issue for all companies and communities. This issue continues to grow in importance in the context of globalized competition and the acceleration of the digitalization of data.
In 2021 alone, globally, 64% of companies suffered at least one cyberattack for an average cost of $4.24 million. In India, the cybersecurity market generated around 13 billion in turnover in 2021. However, this turnover was achieved against a shortage of cybersecurity consultants. At the start of 2022, more than 5,000 positions will be filled in cybersecurity. With the advent of teleworking, demand is increasing. But what about the job of Cybersecurity Consultant?
What Is A Cybersecurity Expert?
Cybersecurity concerns professions relating to security, information transfer, and company data storage. A cybersecurity expert must have the architectural capacity to secure and anticipate possible problems circulating and storing all company data. If, in its early days, cybersecurity mainly concerned the most prominent companies, today, all economic levels are affected, from multinationals to SMEs and VSEs. As proof, job offers in the cybersecurity sector come from nearly 20% of SMEs.
Today, all experts make the same observation: the question is no longer whether a company will suffer a cyber attack, but when it will suffer it, how often will it be attacked? The victim and for what harm? Contrary to popular belief, there is no standardization in cybersecurity. Each company has its specificities, arc, architecture, and needs inherent to its size as to its activity and confidentiality needs.
A cybersecurity expert can consider all these parameters and secure the entire company network using efficient tools. But cybersecurity doesn’t stop. With the professionalization of hacking, cybersecurity experts must anticipate all malicious maneuvers and constantly ensure that impeccable data management security is maintained.
The cybersecurity consultant is an external stakeholder mandated by a company that does not have the internal resources or the aim of accelerating the deployment of its cyber governance at the time of a mission. The cybersecurity consultant intervenes at several levels depending on the company’s digitalization maturity.
Between analyzing his client’s needs and the existing IT infrastructure, he will be able to design technical solutions and develop new methods of systemic analysis, functional analysis, and the level of risk incurred by the structure. He will also bring his expertise in network architecture. He will be able to make suggestions regarding the integration of new hardware and secure software. All these applications will be carried out with perfect mastery of the regulations and standards in force, both in the area of the GDPR and in that of telecoms and digital law.
Thanks to his versatility, the expert cybersecurity consultant will be able to raise awareness among all company personnel of the need to do everything possible to limit cyberattack risks. In addition to this awareness, its presence is essential to train the technical teams in the methods and critical issues in the structure’s IT security.
How Do You Become A Cybersecurity Consultant?
Most cybersecurity professionals and experts carry out their activity entirely independently. Many of them have chosen the status of micro-entrepreneur. Very quickly, depending on the level of expertise, they are recruited by consulting firms based mainly in large cities. Consulting firms in Paris and its region are constantly looking for cybersecurity experts for large companies. After a few years of practicing their freelancer skills, others join a large structure.
In a short time, Salary Portage has become a natural talent pool. Expert cybersecurity consultants, by integrating salary portability, choose simplicity. The average salaries indicated above are much higher for the employees whose TJM oscillates, depending on their level of expertise and the different certifications they have acquired (ISO 27001, for example), between €800 and €1,500 per day.
What Diplomas And Training To Work In Cybersecurity?
Expert cybersecurity consultants are professionals who have exceptional analytical skills and excellent agility. To consistently maintain their expertise and face the constant arrival of new technologies and increasingly sophisticated means used by hackers, they must demonstrate great curiosity and constantly train.
If, in the past, the first expert cybersecurity consultants were self-taught or worked for large groups such as IBM, today, there are well-referenced university courses. The most commonly accepted course is a bac+5 engineering or master two courses specializing in cybersecurity.
Although, as we have just seen, there is training for junior cybersecurity consultants, on the other hand, and all professionals are unanimous in this sense, it is, above all, the multiplication of field experiences and increased curiosity that develop cybersecurity consultants’ expertise. Cybersecurity is a vast and growing field with many specialties with profiles from all walks of life.
Cyber Security Consultant: What Jobs And What Salaries?
Cybersecurity concerns all companies and at all levels of maturity of their digitalization. To respond precisely to all levels of development, expertise and specialties are multiplying. If cybersecurity consultants are versatile, others, on the other hand, are expert cybersecurity consultants, meaning they have developed cutting-edge expertise in a particular field.
Cyber Security Engineer Consultant
With a bac +5 level, the cybersecurity engineer is an expert in analyzing and processing cyberattack threats. His specialty is creating, assembling, and developing action plans to build and increase the security of an entire complex IT system while considering and anticipating IT threats. The salary range for a cybersecurity consultant engineer is between €3,000 and €8,000 monthly, depending on their experience.
Cybersecurity Architecture Consultant
After a complete audit of the IT architecture in place, the Cybersecurity Architecture Consultant recommends and carries out new technological and technical directions to strengthen and upgrade the software and the entire existing IT network. He is an authority on the architecture and management of all IT projects by adapting all systems and equipment to the specificities of the requesting company.
He is also responsible for managing all security strategies and tests and managing and anticipating IT breaches. He also ensures the compliance of all documentation concerning IT infrastructure and security. At the BAC + 5 level, his salary varies, depending on his experience, between €5,000 and €8,000 per month.
Cyber Security Project Manager Consultant
The cybersecurity project manager consultant is a professional who works within companies to define, implement, and manage all the solutions and tools that lead to securing a company’s entire IT network. Once the audit has been completed, he takes responsibility and oversees the deployment and strategic implementation of new security standards for the whole of the infrastructure.
As a cybersecurity project manager, he must manage the existing teams or consultants and respect the allocated budgets and the deadlines set for his task in an optimized quality and cybersecurity approach.
Knowledgeable about information systems and the company’s needs, he will also be able to make suggestions regarding the preventive implementation of protection against the numerous malicious acts that can impact the proper functioning or confidentiality of the data of the structure that mandated it. He will provide educational support to employees in managing, changing, and developing the entire IT system. It also conducts a training and awareness mission on the quality approach to managing cybercrime risks.
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