Job: Cyberthreat analyst
The role: Cyberthreat analysts are tasked with assessing, deconstructing and ultimately neutralizing various online threats, including scams, malicious software, viruses and hacks. Typically employed by cybersecurity vendors, they are responsible for responding to active threats as well as understanding the broader threat landscape in order to identify potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited in the future.
“Debugging code, finding issues in code, that’s all part of what analysts do when they look at computer viruses,” explains Derek Manky, the chief of security insights and global threat alliances for Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs, a global cybersecurity provider. “They have to reverse-engineer what that code is doing to understand how it’s malicious and create a proper solution for that.”
According to Mr. Manky, cyberthreat analysts work with a range of teams and departments to understand the different threats and vulnerabilities threatening each entity.
“They’re sort of the middle piece,” he says. “Other teams funnel that information to them, then they’re doing some of the heavy lifting, deconstructing that threat, analyzing it and then neutralizing it.”
Salary: According to Payscale.com the average annual compensation for cyber threat analysts in Canada is about $70,000 per year, with entry-level employees earning an average of roughly $66,500 annually and mid-career professionals earning approximately $79,000 per year.
Cyberthreat analysts are typically able to command a higher salary by completing specialized training and earning additional certification, explains Mr. Manky.
“There’s a lot of certifications that take a long time to achieve,” he says, adding that each threat type has its own training requirements. “Each comes with a higher responsibility and role.”
Mr. Manky adds that more senior professionals often move on to lucrative consulting, research and executive positions later in their careers.
Education: While the role requires highly technical skills, Mr. Manky says that many enter the industry with only a basic educational background in computer programming or software engineering.
“Even a diploma level – it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bachelor’s or a master’s or PhD – but having an IT background or software-engineering background helps a lot,” he says. “A lot of organizations will then do their own in-house training; that’s across the board, globally.”
Job prospects: The need for cyberthreat analysts in Canada is only growing as both the number of threats and the potential damage they can cause continue to increase.
“Cybercrime is a worldwide epidemic,” says Mr. Manky. “The average cost of a data breach right now is about $3.9-million USD, and that number is continuing to rise, so there is severe risk out there and obviously companies need to mitigate that, which is increasing demand for analysts.”
Challenges: Cyberthreat analysts are often challenged by the need to constantly stay one step ahead of a rapidly growing and increasingly sophisticated global threat landscape.
“A cyber criminal can do a million things wrong and one thing right, and they’re successful,” explains Mr. Manky. “We can do a million things right and one thing wrong, and it can be a big deal, because it could potentially disrupt business.”
Why they do it: Cyberthreat analysts are often attracted to the job because it provides an opportunity to solve complex problems and ultimately thwart criminal activities.
“I think at the heart and soul of threat analysts, they like solving puzzles, and that’s what this is,” says Mr. Manky. “There’s a lot of detective-like work.”
Misconceptions: Mr. Manky says even those with strong technical backgrounds have the misconception that the role is too complicated and difficult to break into. He emphasizes that even those with basic technical skills can become cyberthreat analysts with some additional training.
“A lot of people think that it’s incredibly complex, and it certainly can be, but the focus is on growing junior-level talent into more senior roles,” he says. “At that entry level, it doesn’t have to be complex, but the misconception scares a lot of people away.”
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