The article explains the different careers which are available in network security and general recommendations for selecting a network security career path.
A career in network security engineering requires that the candidate has a sound knowledge on the fundamentals of networking. This is required because, whichever role you take ensures protection of networking environments. You should be aware of what you intent to protect because only them you would be able to protect it. The following details the list of network security career paths.
1. Network Security Consultant
The role of a network security consultant is to design a secure network infrastructure for a network. The network security consultant would understand the different security parameters which should be setup on a network for protection. The role of the consultant would be to identify products, services and features which would protect the network from attacks. This would include security product selection like firewalls, ids etc, recommending applications which can be used for security management, necessary configurations required on the products to ensure security etc.
To become a network security consultant, a minimum experience of 5+ years in network design, configuration and support is recommended. This is required since this career can be built only with a solid experience in networking.
Recommended Course and Certifications
GIAC certified firewall analyst
2. Network Security auditor.
A network security auditor is responsible for assessing the security of a network. The network security auditor does various tests using security tools and use standards documents like PC1-DSS,ISO etc for compliance testing. For a succesfull career in network security auditing, a good knowledge on the different types of network security tools, penetration testing methodologies, standards are required.
To become a network security auditor, a minimum experience of 5+ years is recommended in networking and systems area. A sound knowledge on how operating systems and different hardware along with knowledge on different types of network security attacks and tools is required.
Recommended Course and Certifications
GIAC certified penetration tester
GIAC systems and networks auditor
Certified Information systems auditor
3. Network Security engineer
A network security engineer is responsible for managing the security of a network. Once the network is setup, the network security engineer manages the security of the network which would include activities like anti virus upgrades, analyzing vulnerabilities of devices on the network, schedule data back up, patch management, operating systems upgrade, understand latest types of threats and vulnerabilities and make appropriate changes to configurations on devices on the network etc.
To become a network security engineer, a minimum of 1+ year experience is recommended in managing operating systems, firewalls, routers , switches etc.
Recommended Course and Certifications
4. Malware research engineer
A malware research engineer is responsible of analyzing how different types of security attacks like virus, worms , Trojans etc work. The behavior of the malware and how it functions is analyzed. The malware research engineer then prepares solutions like anti virus, anti malware tools for defending against the attacks.
To become a malware research engineer, the internal working of different types of protocols and operating systems is required. Low level system knowledge is required to become a succesfull malware research engineer.
Recommended Course and Certifications
The above 4 roles are career paths in network security.
