To become a security analyst, you need specialized classes that aren’t often taken as an entry-level staffer. These classes will prepare you for high-paying jobs with firms that need strong security personnel.
Ethical Hacking
You’ll be delving into the world of ethical hacking. What is ethical hacking? Most people know what hacking is, or at least they think they understand it. Hacking is the process of identifying potential threats to a company’s security infrastructure and then trying to exploit it, but with permission from the company.
An ethical hacker tries to bypass system security and find weak points that someone else might exploit. The benefit, to a company, is that the ethical hacker is a mock criminal. The goal is for the ethical hacker to find security holes before the real bad guys do.
Ethical hackers have written permission to probe the network and attempt to identify security risks. They respect the individual’s and company’s privacy, not actually leaking internal documents or sensitive material.
When finished, the hacker closes out the work and doesn’t leave the exploit open for others to take advantage of. Finally, the analyst notifies the software developer or hardware manufacturer of any security vulnerabilities that are found.
An ethical hacking course teaches you the ins and outs of this practice, how to respect privacy, what actions are legal and which are illegal, and how to perform your job without actually compromising the security of a company’s infrastructure.
It’s one of the most important courses you can take because it’s a sort of “intro to security analysis” course while at the same time an introduction to hacking – you’ll know what the other side knows.
Fundamentals Of Information Security
Fundamentals of information security is a more formal course that deals with the administration, design, and troubleshooting of network security. You’ll learn how to minimize the threat of external attacks and viruses using countermeasures.
You’ll learn how to implement general security services on computer networks and harden networks and operating systems. Finally, you’ll be taught how to execute security technologies like TCP/IP firewalls, and VPN.
This course is taught by in-person instructors (usually) and covers theoretical and practical guidance on techniques and methodologies used to configure and execute strategies to counter the threat of worms, viruses, Trojans, and improper configuration.
Data Recovery
When data is lost, it can be a catastrophic failure for a company’s operations. That’s why IT departments maintain backups of everything. Redundancy is usually extended to off-site secure backup locations. But, what happens when data is lost?
This is where data recovery comes in handy. You’ll learn logical recovery of disabled hard drives, using file format recognition tools, recovery strategies for avoiding BIOS interrupts, motions that unlock the actuator of a hard drive.
You’ll also be able to diagnose the physical recovery of drives and replace logic boards as well as repair or replace head assemblies. You’ll be working in a Class 100 clean room for instruction (assuming you are taking live training, which is recommended).
The clean room is important because even a small piece of dust can permanently damage it.
CISSP
This is a course you will need for security and risk management, asset security, security engineering, communication and network security, identity and access management, security operations, security assessment and testing, and software dev security.
Needless to say, it’s important. But, it can also be expensive. And, not every vendor offers the most up to date training. Online courses can help you cut the cost, if you want to learn about CISSP at www.Simplilearn.com – one of the leading providers of online tech training.
Your only other option is live training. Ideally, your course should be a 7-day course which will help prepare you for the exam. If you’re training online, make sure your course materials are up to date and that you take as much time as needed to digest the information.
CompTIA Security+
The CompTIA Security+ course provides IT professionals with the most comprehensive training for 6 primary objectives: compliance and operational security, network security, threats and vulnerabilities, application, data, and host security, access control and identity management, and cryptography.
Reverse Engineering
Reverse engineering is a useful skill for security professionals because it helps them understand hashing functions, and the “guts” of a software application, security on a network, the network itself, and the overall infrastructure.
You’ll learn about discovering stack overflows, heap overflows, unpacking malware, monitoring registry changes, and a whole lot more.
By Chandana Senior Content Writer, Simplilearn.com
Chandana is a Senior Content Writer for Simplilearn.com. She has a M.A. in English Literature from Gauhati University and is PRINCE2 Foundation certified. Her unique and refreshing writing style continues to educate and inspire readers from around the world.
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