As we are all aware, technology is rapidly advancing in the modern world, and so are cybercrimes. Gone are the days when business owners could relax without worrying about cyberattacks. If you want to acquire a successful online business in today’s world, hiring people who know the cybersecurity practices to safeguard your data is paramount.
Here’s where cybersecurity firms and experts come in. Read ahead as we have discussed the top ten entry-level cybersecurity jobs with the eligibility criteria and educational requirements.
A security specialist is highly trained to uphold the responsibilities of protecting the data of businesses, managing the security systems, and onboarding new employees securely.
Industries including tech, finance, aerospace, government, energy, and utilities usually require security specialists in specific areas where they suspect they are lacking cybersecurity.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $60,000 — $110,000 per year
Becoming a security analyst comes with great duties and responsibilities. The specific individual is responsible for keeping all the data and confidential information safe from malicious attacks from getting altered or destroyed. In addition, the analyst takes into consideration the security systems to detect and fix faults and inconsistencies.
Moreover, the analysts monitor the database and industry networks to assess the ways to mitigate the risks of cybersecurity.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $70,000 — $120,000 per year
Crypto and cybersecurity—these might seem like completely different fields, right? So why is the role of a cryptographer included in entry-level cybersecurity jobs? The reason is that a cryptographer’s job isn’t just about mining cryptocurrencies.
Cryptographers play a crucial role in the cybersecurity field. They are highly skilled in keeping the data secure by implementing different strategies and practices. In addition, with the assistance of advanced algorithms, they attempt to protect the data from getting modified, copied, altered, or destroyed by unauthorized individuals or entities.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $80,000 — $130,000 per year
An incident responder in a company is deployed to assess and regulate networking monitoring to quickly respond after an unexpected event of data breaches.
Their job is to take immediate action and notify other team members about the unusual happenings and immediate solutions. This makes everyone aware of the impending cybersecurity threat.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $70,000 — $110,000 per year
As you can guess by its name, just as a finance auditor audits a company’s financial statements, a security auditor goes through several security breaches. They are responsible for compiling a list of all the cyberattacks that have happened in the past.
By doing so, they conduct a routine check-up on all the cybersecurity systems that are being operated in the company and check them to find and fix the loopholes.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $60,000 — $100,000 per year
Forensic experts, sounds fascinating, right? It appears that in this job, you are going to visit an accident site and check and investigate the aftermath.
But it is much more than that, it involves the responsibility to retrieve data, trace the evidence, recover lost or damaged information, and reconstruct the damaged hardware as per the company’s norms.
In addition, forensic experts track down suspects by tracing the source or network operating systems of the cyberattack.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $75,000 — $120,000 per year
Security architects are the masterminds behind a company’s cybersecurity strategy. Their main role includes security planning, protocol testing, developing a cybersecurity plan, and anticipating all possible scenarios in which a cyberattack might occur, along with the necessary action plan for each one.
By doing so, they can effectively counter most cyber threats.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $90,000 — $150,000 per year
One cannot imagine a cybersecurity team without a security engineer. In terms of work, this job is very similar to that of a forensic expert because the tasks are nearly identical. But in a senior role, security engineers team up with other professionals to solve business security-related issues.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $75,000 — $130,000 per year
Source code auditor is unquestionably one of the best cybersecurity entry-level jobs on the market. You will also receive a very good salary for this job; the only thing that may cause you to reconsider applying for this position is the workload.
A source code auditor plays an important role in a company because they must run the entire source code of the company’s original data systems. Auditors are assigned to perform penetration testing, review the company’s protocol, and present an overall report for improvements.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $70,000 — $120,000 per year
In this job, you must act as a hacker and gain access to your company’s systems. Penetration testers are sometimes referred to as ethical hackers.
They are primarily responsible for testing the penetration of network engines in order to gather all relevant information about their company’s networking. Hence, they are more skilled in performing a wireless assessment of the company’s hardware including the Wi-Fi systems, phishing inspection and more.
Roles and Responsibilities
Expected Salary: $80,000 — $130,000 per year
Now that you’ve reviewed a list of entry-level cybersecurity jobs, it’s important to consider the educational requirements. You can refer to the table below for more details.
| Job Role | Education Requirements | Common Certifications |
| Information Security Analyst | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | CompTIA Security+, GIAC Certified Intrusion Analyst (GCIA), GCIH |
| Information Security Specialist | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | CompTIA Security+, SSCP, GIAC Security Essentials (GSEC) |
| Digital Forensic Examiner | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | GIAC Certified Forensic Analyst, EnCase Certified Examiner (EnCE), ACE |
| IT Auditor | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | Certified Internal Auditor (CIA), CISA |
| Security Systems Administrator | Bachelor’s degree in an IT-related field, such as computer science | CISSP, CISM |
| Penetration Tester | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), CompTIA PenTest+, GPEN |
| Security Engineer | Bachelor’s degree (in computer science, information technology, or a related field). | CISSP, Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) |
| Security Architect | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | CISSP, CISM, CSA Certificate of Cloud Security Knowledge (CCSK) |
| Cryptography Engineer | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT, or related field) | EC-Council Certified Encryption Specialist (ECES) |
| Cybersecurity Manager | Bachelor’s degree (Computer Science, IT) | CISSP, CISM |
Aside from these educational requirements and cybersecurity certifications, there are several key skills that you may require while working in these positions, which are listed below.
Data encryption skills can help the company encrypt the data that cannot be tempered and altered by unauthorized access without unlocking digital code.
To understand the hacker’s mind and actions, it is important to step in their shoes. For that, learning the basics of hacking is essential to acquire the same technical abilities as a hacker. This will help the organization understand and protect the vulnerable attacks on networks and infrastructure.
A deep knowledge of the numerous threats and associated risks with them can help the organization to take into careful consideration the losses that they may encounter due to the vulnerabilities.
Instantly gathering the data breach pieces of evidence and findings to analyze the effects and losses can help the organization establish a robust plan for future breaches.
Critical problem-solving is not a new skill; it comes out to be mandatory for almost every field. Establishing plans and implementing immediate, confident decisions at the time of attacks can save the company’s assets.
Defending your company against volatile cyber crimes requires all your hard work and attention to detail. Developing yourself as a keen observer of minute things helps you to detect the signs of vulnerabilities before they truly take place.
Hence, developing your skills beforehand can help you to target a better chance of getting these entry-level cyber security jobs.
Choosing the right career is not a decision you make to eat your favorite cheesecake. With a lot of extensive research and getting all the information in hand, including the education requirements, and courses, you end up deciding the perfect course of action to take.
Cybersecurity positions are in high demand, and you do not need advanced skills to get started as a fresher. Take into consideration the above-mentioned entry-level roles, including Security Specialist, Security Analyst, Cryptographer, Penetration Tester and more, in order to determine the one that is worth considering.
Yes, it is possible. There are dozens of cyber security jobs that you can get into while having minimal experience.
You can easily find numerous options of entry-level cyber security jobs on LinkedIn as per your skill set.
The key skills for entry-level cybersecurity jobs include understanding online threats, solving problems, and knowing basic coding and security tools.
No, advanced coding is not required for cybersecurity. But for some roles, you may require basic coding knowledge.
Communication skills, problem-solving, teamwork, ethical judgment, informed decision-making, and more are some soft skills required for cybersecurity jobs.
