SecureSet Career Series: The Security Engineer

Builder and Guard

James Bond is well known for his irresistible charm, martial arts skills (Judo Chop!) and of course his never-ending supply of nifty gadgets. While Bond is an expert in implementing his toys into his bi-weekly “save the world routine,” MI6’s engineer, Q, is the true genius behind said toys; the jet packs, submarine cars and of course exploding watches.

While Bond’s character is obviously the star of the 007 films, Q has always been an essential component. In fact, the character “Q” is featured in all but three of the Bond movies. This is because of an undeniable truth. At the end of the day James Bond just isn’t James Bond without the gadgets that Q engineers for him.

While there isn’t a huge demand for laser watches in the cybersecurity world (yet), there’s an overwhelming need for security innovators and architects. Security Analysts are experts in implementing the tools they are given for threat analysis, but at the end of the day, someone needs to design and build these tools. Enter the world of the Security Engineer.

What does a security engineer do?

A security engineer develops detailed cybersecurity designs and builds computer security architecture. They’re on the front line of protecting network assets from threat actors. In a proactive role, security engineers focus on creating robust defense systems, building and implementing tools for threat detection and conducting penetration tests to probe for network vulnerabilities. In their reactive duties, a security engineer will lead incident response by minimizing breach impact, conducting investigations on breach damage and developing response strategies to protect their network.

Skills you’ll need for building traps.

In a non-discouraging way, you, as an aspiring security engineer, should ask yourself one question: “What don’t I already know?”

Security engineers are detail-oriented people who refuse to give up until every level of the game has been conquered. While it’s impossible to become an all-knowing, all-seeing cyber-deity, your success in this role will be highly dependent on your ability to continuously improve your technical knowledge. As a security engineer, you will benefit tremendously from an insatiable curiosity of the technical world. You can greatly benefit from finding where your cyber-skills lack and then advancing your knowledge and technique in these subject matters.

As a generalization, security engineers will need to be familiar with cryptography, IT fundamentals, risk assessment tools and security procedures. It could also prove advantageous for you to have a basic understanding of economic elements, applied-psychology and basic law. Cybersecurity plays a holistic role in our modern IT ecosystems, so the engineers supporting it must be holistic in their approaches. The wider your scope of knowledge, the more you’ll fit into the security engineer role.

In addition to a continuous pursuit for technical prowess, communication skills, confidence, a strong worth ethic and a passion for cybersecurity are essential soft skills for a security engineer to have. This role not only puts you at the front line of your company’s asset protection, it also places you in a position of leadership for your cybersecurity team. Other helpful soft-skills for this position include efficiency in multitasking and organization as well as the ability to thrive in a fast-paced and sometimes high-stress environment.

Heroes reap many rewards.

An average starting salary, for entry level positions, is around $76,000 per year. By googling entry-level security engineer job openings, you’ll quickly find that entry-level salaries fall in a wide range. Where you land in that range will be dependent on the industry, your experience, the company and the job location. With a few years of experience, security engineers can easily see their annual salaries jump into six figures. Due to the high demand for advanced cyber-skills and IT knowledge, the security engineer position can prove to be extremely lucrative.

Security engineers, because of their depth and breadth of subject matter expertise, are often called into larger teams tasked with shaping the vision and strategy to the next major breakthrough in cybersecurity.

A complete picture of a security team.

The advancement of cyber threats has led many organizations to develop their own Security Operations Center (SOC). A SOC consists of a cohesive cyber-team made of security engineers, penetration testers, security analysts and data scientists. Each member of the team brings a unique skill set that assists in the efforts of preventing, detecting, analyzing and responding to security threats.

The engineers are the technical experts that build and secure the networks and the detection tools of the company. The data scientists analyze the mass data that a company produces, in an effort to discover network insights. Analysts use these discoveries to actively search for anomalies in their network that might indicate malicious activity. When anomalies are spotted, analysts work with the engineers to set traps and contain threats. These traps can also be set preemptively in what’s known as “active defense.” Penetration testers are white-hat hackers who simulate cyber attacks on their own network to discover its vulnerabilities. They report their findings to the team, so that together, they can fill the network’s security gaps.

Every team member in the SOC is an essential piece to the ongoing battle against cyber threats. The question is “which team member do you want to be?”

Where does the security engineer fit into the team?

A successful security engineer must embrace their role as the cyber-team’s Jack-of-all-trades. Serving as their company’s pinnacle of tech knowledge, they must be comfortable with delving into the nitty-gritty in virtually all aspects of cybersecurity. Developing threat-detection tools for analysts, investigating security breaches and training their team on new policies may very well be “all in a day’s work” for a security engineer. Aside from hands-on duties, security engineers also play an essential role as the leaders of their cybersecurity team. Their wide spectrum of network knowledge and experience make them an extremely useful point of reference for the other members of their organization.

Here’s How You Get Started

SecureSet Academy provides the most complete, immersive and compressed cybersecurity programs out there. Our CORE Program teaches the technical and analytical skills needed to become an effective security engineer. Our programs are a balance of classroom theory and hands-on lab time. This ensures that our students graduate with the level of skill and confidence needed to leave our academy job-ready. A majority of our students are hired within a few months of graduation (many before getting their diploma). The natural progression from general IT to cybersecurity can take five to ten years. CORE gets you there in as little as 20 weeks through deep dive, focused learning with some of the industries top leaders.

While many students who enter our CORE Program tend to have an IT background, you may feel like there are some gaps in your fundamental skill set. We offer a six-week preparatory workshop, SecureSet PREP, that will give you an introduction into Systems, Networking and Python. Passing PREP with a score of 80% or higher will pre-qualify you for our CORE Program, with the ability to deduct your costs from your Program tuition. PREP is a perfect way for you to establish a sturdy foundation for your cybersecurity career.

Are you ready to build some traps?

Q helps save the world by providing Bond with tools that are essential for completing their missions. Security engineers do the same for the cyber team by designing advanced security networks and providing analysts with threat hunting tools. In all facets of work, engineers are the world’s leading architects of innovation. Without the expertise and passion that security engineers bring to their cyber-teams, protecting networks from threats would be virtually impossible. This is a high-pressure position that only calls for the most capable and confident in the cybersecurity workforce. If you live, breath and sleep cybersecurity and you’re looking for a career that is as rewarding as it is challenging, you may have a future as a security engineer.

Learn more about how our CORE Engineering program can help you launch your career in cybersecurity. You can also learn about all of our programs at secureset.com. View our next upcoming cohorts at SecureSet.com/core.

Our next Career Series blog will spotlight cybersecurity’s white hat hackers; the penetration testers. Are you interested in learning more about Hunt Analysts? Click here. Check out other entries in our ongoing career series: Security Hunt Analyst, Security Pen Tester.