Cyber Security
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Anonymous
| My DS is very much interested in Cyber Security. Is this a good choice for his career? |
Anonymous
| yes. The cybersecurity grads from GMU can write their own tickets |
Anonymous
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Absolutely a good choice.
On a related note, I was talking with some current Computer Science students, interning in our office this summer, and they were discussing the over-saturation of CS majors. They advised a couple of us with HS seniors to encourage our kids to choose cyber instead. |
Anonymous
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I have been working in that field for over 35 years - when I started it was not called Cyber Security though. The name keeps changing…
In my experience, DC would be best positioned for that career by getting a BS Computer Science or BS Computer Engineering and taking (a) security-related courses and (b) operating systems internals and networking courses and (c) a class teaching the math behind modern cryptology. The folks who really know computer “internals” and really have deep knowledge of networking usually will have the crucial foundational knowledge to get the more interesting (and better paid) assignments. Many, but not all, students who get a BA or BS which is specifically in Cyber Security will have stable employment and reasonable starting salaries, but their lack of the deep foundational knowledge of how computer internals and networks work usually eventually caps out their career with a kind of glass ceiling. A poorly understood potential pit fall is that many Cyber Security engineering jobs end up being more like highly skilled technician work. People who do as I outline above will always have lots of interesting work and no glass ceiling to contend with. A good local place for students interested in this field to intern, either as a HS student or as a college student, is the Naval Research Laboratory, which has a world-class researchers in information security. It has mostly a civil service staff. |
Anonymous
| The other good local place to intern (HS or college) would be with at NSA at Ft Meade. They have unique security requirements, but interested folks might want to talk with their HR people and ask about the possibilities. |
Anonymous
+1 to all of this. Or if they want to major in cybersecurity make sure to take some of the more advanced CS courses (operating systems, networking, compilers are some topics that I’m glad I have a really deep foundation in) as electives or toward a minor. The cybersecurity degree is generally a good prerequisite to a career in policy or as PP says technician work so if you want to work on the really fun stuff, you also need to pick up some serious pure computer science/engineering. |
Anonymous
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Yes, this is not something that can easily be offshored.
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Anonymous
| I see a lot of kids head the cyber route, pretty much everywhere.. We toured extensively last season (2024 HS grad) and everywhere we went, it was the same story - Virginia Tech: a good chunk of the data science and BIT students are specializing in cyber; Delaware and UMBC - A lot of Master's students from India were studying cyber over CS.. Same story everywhere because "that's where the jobs are". I wonder if Cyber will also suffer the same fate as CS over the next few years. I know there are many articles written about "thousands of jobs in cyber being created over the next decade" but 3 years ago that was the story for CS as well.. |
Anonymous
The differentiation between cyber and CS is a little odd. I spend about half my time programming, and the other half doing "cyber" - specifically compliance for a large agency. A CS degree (what I have) is a broad-based education, focusing on CS fundamentals that can apply in any subfield (including cyber). Cyber degrees seem more vocational, focusing on tools, techniques and practices. It's a specialization, but anyone that can get through a CS degree won't have any problems with "Cyber" tasks and materials. It would be like the English department offering a Poetry degree. My opinion: go with a CS degree and learn cyber tools, if that's what you want to do. Setting opportunities aside - cybersecurity, the way it's practiced today, is boring and frankly a little depressing. It's the worst part of my job. It's less about catching "bad guys" and more about ensuring that systems are compliant with standards, bugging teams to patch their systems, and writing reports. You create nothing... |
Anonymous
Discussing DS's future class schedule for his CS, I inquired about his lack of cyber classes. (I'm NOT in the field so I'm speaking as an outsider). He said he could take online certification or boot camps focusing on cyber if needed. |
Anonymous
He's absolutely right. You can sit for one of the certification exams. Get the CISSP book, thumb through it, take the test and then you're certified. If you want to work in this area, any gov contractor will pick you up. Gov contracts typically have requirements to have security roles, and those roles require certain certificates (e.g., security+, CISSP). It's a racket, of course, pushed by industry to sell books and seminars. Again, I'd encourage DS to concentrate on software development and learning the craft of programming. Long term, it's much more rewarding than running scans, writing reports, and getting woken up at 2am. If you want quick $$$, I get it... |
Anonymous
This. This perfectly describes cybersecurity where I work. The “fun” is in app development. My organization is always hiring. |
Anonymous
Piling on a bit... I'm in a situation where I'm paid very well to do the cyber thing. That's the only reason I'm doing it, and I may leave anyway. There are a large number of cyber people in the fed contracting space that just aren't very skilled. They struggle through a course to get a certification and then become an "ISSO", but all they really know how to do is use commercial tools (like nessus), and generate reports. They have *some* knowledge of networking, and basic computer technology, but typically can't write a simple script to save their life. Their value is in the institutional knowledge they hold, and their ability to navigate internal processes and people. These are the people your DC would work with, or work for. If you go this route, keep your skills up on side projects. Like I said, the $$$ can be great, but just make sure your skills don't rot. |
Anonymous
| I’m studying for the security+ certification right now for a contract requirement and geez is it stultifying. You’ll likely need certifications like this even if you have a cyber undergrad degree. Just do CS with some cyber classes or a minor and then get the certifications. |
Anonymous
Lot's of jobs pulling cable. |