Dozens of countries hit by huge cyberextortion attack

Associated Press ^ | May 12, 2017 | ANICK JESDANUN, JILL LAWLESS and ARITZ PARRA

[taxcontrol]

The US Army is so in need of cyber security professionals, that they have started a pilot program for those with the right credentials, can be directly appointed to officers. This is similar to what the Army has done previously for those with medical degrees. Those with the most in demand credentials can be directly appointed to as high as full bird colonel.

The salary range from basic Unix sysadmin is about 80K. Add to that some certifications and and the salary jumps to 100K. Add some experience and some specialized certifications and you are looking at 120 to 150k depending on location and job role. At the upper end, with several years of experience and perhaps your masters, where you are a CISO and basically running the organization and you are looking at 200k.

There is huge competition for cyber security professionals.

As for the cause of the leak - I am not close enough to the NSA to comment. I do know that the patch for the vulnerability was released to the public a couple of months ago.

For anyone reading this and thinking that they may want to jump into this space but don’t know how to get started, allow me to make the following recommendation:

1) Get your starting set of certifications
CompTIA A+, Network+, Security+, CSA

2) Get a job in IT as ... well anything. PC tech, sysadmin, data backups... anything.

3) While you are spending a year at #2, work on getting some other certifications. The SANS organization has several more specific, and more expensive tests. Vendor certification are useful as well (Cisco, Juniper, Microsoft, Oracle, etc).

4) After you have a year at #2, start looking for specific security jobs. Best to start as a blue team (defender - incident response - digital forensics) before moving on to penetration testing. Look at the CCFP, GCFA, CHFI certifications.

To help with learning all of this, go to CBTnuggets.com and sign up for their videos. Cost is $89/month and well worth it.

If you have completed #1 and/or #2 and are looking for a job, contact me directly via this board and we can get together via alternate contact. I am not a hiring manager but we are always looking for talent.

[The Westerner]

Anyone who wants to work in cybersecurity ought to read the above post by Tax Control. Or if you have children who show promise but need a pro’s advice on how to get a high paying job in this field, read his advice.

I wonder if some foreign workers have been needed to fill these jobs if, as you say, they go unfilled by young Americans. Just what are our kids interested in if not using these skills in a high paying career? Are the smartest going into other fields? Back in the 70’s, all you needed was a willingness to learn, work and use one’s mind. No degrees nec. Today, the Certs. you name can be attained the same way. Are our kids so lost by the end of educational years they no longer can think straight?

[taxcontrol]

You raise a very valid point. I am of the opinion that the collage education complex has done much damage to our employment prospects by the nearly universal requirement to have a college degree.

[softengine]

Love Raspberry Pi! Incredible potential. No IPO in the works, it would appear. Tanium is the investment to make.