Important qualities for Information Security Analysts are being analytical, detail oriented, creativity, and possessing problem solving skills. I possess most of these skills, being highly analytical in nature and very good at problem solving as a result. Furthermore, I am very interested in computers and, more specifically, the field of cybersecurity as it is an interesting career path that is growing much faster that average.
What will I be doing in this occupation?
Since information security analyst is a catch-all term, they do pretty much everything that pertains to cybersecurity. Of these many things, one of which is penetration testing, which is trying to break into a client’s network in order to identify major security flaws. More tasks preformed by Information security analysts include but are not limited to: monitoring for security breaches on a client’s network, documenting security breaches, and installing or updating software in order to prevent future security breaches.
What is the necessary education/training?
The only truly necessary education requirement to have is a bachelor’s degree in a computer related field, as that will provide you with most of the technical knowledge needed in order to succeed in the field. Unfortunately, education is rarely ever the problem in computer related fields, as you need experience to get most of the skills required to get a proper job in the field. In order to get a good job as an Information Security Analyst, you must have a little under 5 years of experience in a related field, which most likely will come from an internship or something similar.
How does this career use Microsoft Word and PowerPoint?
An Information Security Analyst is not very likely to use PowerPoint to often, save for a couple presentations to workers about security to simplify security information for them to understand. Among the two office products mentioned, Microsoft Word is the Microsoft Office product that will be used most by an Information Security Analyst due to the nature of the job. Since the job usually requires the Information Security Analyst to document security breaches on their employer’s network for future reference by other employees, Microsoft Word is the obvious word editor to use when documenting that information as it is the industry standard right now. Another use for Microsoft Word is a basic business use, writing letters or memos to other employees at their company, as nobody can avoid having to do this in any position, save for some executive positions.