What is the best way to prepare for a career in cyber-security in college?
I am attending The University of Texas at San Antonio as a freshman in the fall pursuing a degree in cyber security. Other than working as hard as possible in class, how can I prepare for and ensure a career for myself after college. #cyber-security
5 answers
Haider’s Answer
Hello Evan,
What a great questions !! 1st you need to know what your goal/passion when you start attending these classes .. Are you more leaning into network security, end point security, incident response, forensic, etc only then you can start preparing in depth on from certification, freelance & volunteer to see if this is what you really want to do. I will give you an example am completed software engineering but after sometime working in this field didn't see my self belong so i have shifted my focus to cyber security. Hope this will help you as start .. happy to continue the discussion further.
HA
Mahesh’s Answer
I would consider taking the CISSP certification (https://www.isc2.org/cissp/default.aspx). In addition, seek out internships in cyber security. A good place to start would be the security practices of big 4 accounting firms (Deloitte, PWC, KPMG, Ernst & Young). This is because you get to work on different projects across different industries and security disciplines (and meet some great people along the way). Hope this helps!
Regarding the CISSP I wouldn't suggest that to start. If you have anything less then five years experience in at least two of the domains. https://www.isc2.org/cissp-professional-experience.aspx
Joshua Sutfin
Lennox’s Answer
1 - Find organizations which offer scholarship opportunities. Apply. https://www.isc2.org/scholarship/default.aspx?terms=scholarships
2 - Attend a local ISC2 Chapter Meeting
3 - Send e/m to the IT Security VP at your university to have a cup of coffee for a one-time mentoring session
4 - Get to know the social, political and emotional drivers of cyber threats
Joshua’s Answer
I have a friend who is pretty well known in the infosec community and she went into great detail on this subject. There is a total of six parts to it which the first part can be found here: https://tisiphone.net/2015/10/12/starting-an-infosec-career-the-megamix-chapters-1-3/
Vartika’s Answer
Read as many books on network security and ethical hacking as you can. There are tons of good books on Security on Amazon.
Watch courses on Security e.g CbtNuggets CEH Course, CCNA course etc. This would give you a great grip on theory and concepts.
Practice with vulnerable machines to get a glimpse of how and why things are vulnerable.
Be persistence with all this and you'll become adept in Hacking and Security way sooner than you think.
Stressing again on this, READING SECURITY BOOKS (The good ones) IS A GREAT ASSET.