Must I be a techie to get into cyber security?

As Cyber security becomes more and more of a buzz word some questions still loom around how to get into

the cyber security career space. Often times people believe that if you lack core technical skills, you cannot get into cyber security. While having technical skills gives you an advantage in some facets of cyber security, a lack of technical skills is not a deterrence. For example, understanding code helps you to identify buggy applications that are bound to expose your organisation to risk or to understand malware signatures and identify anomalies in software.

 

However, if you lack technical skills there are still many areas of cyber security you can fit in such as a risk analyst, a policy analyst, a technical writer or even a cyber lawyer if you are from a legal background. If you come from a non technical background, acquiring technical skills is a plus because the skills give you the ability to fit into a broader sphere of cyber security, however, it is not mandatory. You can still excel in cyber security without the technical skills.

 

Should you wish to acquire technical skills, this can be achieved in two ways. Technical skills can be acquired either through formal education in a university or college or through informal education such as self taught lessons. There are various online platforms through which you can acquire these technical skills. You can find a listing of some of them here.