Interested in a career in cyber security or maybe you're already a cyber pro but want to better understand your potential job options? If so, then there's a new tool designed to help guide you and even your employer.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) on Wednesday released the Cyber Career Pathways Tool, which outlines the five complementary skill communities where cyber security professionals are in demand.
The communities are information technology, which involves designing, building, maintaining and operating networks; cybersecurity, which refers to the skills for defending, securing and preserving data and networks; cyber effects, which is the ability to "externally defend or conduct force projection in or through cyberspace;" cyber intel, which is collecting, processing, analyzing and disseminating intelligence on foreign actors' cyber efforts; and cross functional, which refers to the skills for leading, acquiring and managing cyber initiatives and developing a cyber workforce.
CISA said the new tool will help students and professionals sort through their options for a career as a cyber professional and will assist employers recruit talent, describe job positions, and guide their employees.
"It is more important than ever in this digital age for government and industry to invest in supporting the development of our cyber workforce," Bryan Ware, CISA's assistant director for Cybersecurity, said in a statement. "To protect our interconnected systems from the myriad of threats that we face every day, we need to attract new talent. Growing and strengthening the pipeline of cyber talent is a top priority for CISA."
The tool was created, and will be maintained, by the Interagency Federal Cyber Career Pathways Working Group, which is led by CISA, the Defense Department and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Within each skill community, the tool highlights 52 work roles, and their core attributes, such as database administrator, cyber defense forensics analyst, cyber ops planner, all-source collection manager and others.