Of late, the rise in cybercrime including data breaches from large organisations has become a major cause of concern internationally with the approximate costs of cyber-crimes estimated to touch $6 trillion by 2021, data from Cybersecurity Ventures indicates. Given the fast-evolving cyber threat landscape, there is an increasing need for robust cybersecurity protection for both enterprises and individuals. According to an IBM study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, a large number of organisations are unprepared to respond effectively to cybersecurity incidents, with 77% of respondents indicating they lack a cybersecurity incident response (IR) plan that can be applied consistently across the enterprise. 

Moreover, it is the hidden cost of data breaches that can affect an organisation significantly. A cyber resilient organisation that can respond quickly and efficiently to contain a cyberattack within 30 days can save over $1 million on the total cost of a data breach on average, the IBM study reveals. 

Skills Gap Is Impacting Cybersecurity 

One of the key deterrents in cybersecurity space has been the skills gap – a lack of trained workforce that can better control organisation’s critical assets and lower the cost of threats and breaches. Organisations report that a lack of skilled cybersecurity talent impacts internal response plans. According to the ISC2 report, Asia Pacific region is facing the largest talent shortfall, with Asia-Pacific with a gap of 2.15 million skilled professionals required.  

A NASSCOM report shows that India alone would need 1 million cyber security professionals by 2020; India is a country with a population of about ~1.34 billion people. Also, as more and more workloads shift to the cloud, organisations will need to deploy many separate security tools to reduce operational complexity and also increase visibility into the overall security process. Some of the high value tasks security pros tackle are threat intelligence analysis, penetration testing and forensics.

Analytics India Magazine spoke to Lion Kontorer, Offensive Security Team Leader at HackerU to understand the impact of cybersecurity on Indian organisations. “India is as vulnerable as any other country when it comes to cyber threats – the organizations that put more resources and effort into cyber security are less likely to suffer from an attack, while organizations that do not will get attacked and breached sooner or later,” he said. 

How Jigsaw Academy Is Closing The Cybersecurity Skills Gap

With cybersecurity workforce gap becoming the #1 concern for leading organisations, there’s no better time than now to make a career in this in-demand field. Jigsaw Academy is closing the cybersecurity workforce gap by providing the best-in-class cybersecurity certification in association with Israel-headquartered HackerU – considered an industry-standard for cybersecurity domain. The Master Certificate in Cyber Security (Red Team) with HackerU and  Jigsaw Academy, ranked among India’s top three analytical training institutes trains and prepares the next generation of offensive Cyber Security Professionals. Candidates with a STEM background can apply for this certification. 

Along with the certification in Cyber Security, there is OSCP (Offensive Security Certified Professional) certification — considered to be the most respected red team accreditation within the information security industry. Upon completion of the Red team specialist program, the cyber aspirant will be tested for 24 hours (online security certification exam) to get OSCP certified. 

Top Skills To Make You A Cybersecurity Pro 

According to Kontorer, AI is playing a critical role in cybersecurity and individuals can prepare by studying both these fields. “They should have a clear understanding about what are the threats and where they come from. Apart from advanced hacking groups, professionals who know both cybersecurity and AI can predict threats before they emerge,” he shared. 

Here is a list of cyber security jobs in India seeing a growing demand: 

• Network Security Engineer
• Cyber Security Analyst 
• Security Architect 
• Cyber Security Manager 
• Chief Information Security Officer 

The average salary of a cybersecurity professional in India is ~ 4, 98,000 per annum and as per reports, the hike is 9% greater than any other sector in IT. While freshers start around with an average salary of ₹7 lakh, for experienced cybersecurity pros with 2 to 6 years’ experience, salaries are between ₹20- ₹24 lakh. 

Here are the top skills that can get you a guaranteed job placement:  

• Python
• VirtualizationNetwork Services and Security
• Linux
• Cryptography,
• Android
•  IOT
•  Windows Server

How you can master this skillset: 

Jigsaw Academy’s Master Certificate in Cyber Security (Red Team) in association with HackerU delivers 600 hours of in-person learning and covers basic and advanced cybersecurity concepts to ensure a candidate is job-ready and has both technical and soft skills required to land a job. 

Key Differentiators of Jigsaw Academy’s Master Certificate in Cyber Security

• It offers the most comprehensive cyber security training program on Offensive Security and Penetration Testing delivered by Israel’s leading cybersecurity training institute 
• The institute offers a guaranteed jobs and placement assistance program coupled with 10 hour session on career services 
• Candidates have access to real-world, simulation based learning through Cyber Labs and can gain hands-on exercises in Cyber Labs 
• It also prepares candidates for the highly recognized Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) certification

Outlook 

The scope for cyber security professionals in India has peaked already and now is the perfect time to get ahead in the cyber rush.  As outlined earlier, cybersecurity has become the necessary evil across organisations with IT & ITES, BFSI, e-commerce, Government and retail sectors seeing a huge demand for cybersecurity professionals. With India requiring 1 million cybersecurity professionals by 2020, there’s no doubt cybersecurity specialist will become the most in-demand job roles in the next few years.  

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