How Do You Become a Cybersecurity Consultant?

A cybersecurity consultant has a lot of expectations to meet. The only way such a professional cyber security consultant can accomplish all of these tasks is to have the right skills and training. So, how does one go about becoming a cybersecurity consultant?

Education
Higher education has no dedicated cybersecurity training curriculum. Instead, would-be cybersecurity consultants would do well earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science, information technology, cybersecurity, or another related major.

Certification
The well-rounded cyber-security training consultant has numerous certifications in many relevant subjects. More on this later.

Work Experience
As is true in so many other fields, prior cybersecurity experience goes a long way towards establishing the right credentials. There’s nothing like hands-on work to show a prospective employer or client that you know what you’re doing. As a rule, three to five years of working in an IT environment is ideal for cybersecurity consultant jobs.

Soft Skills
An effective cybersecurity professional knows how to communicate with both IT-related teams and non-technical people. Building on that, the cybersecurity consultant should possess some leadership skills, especially since it falls on you to implement new policies and procedures. Finally, the consultant needs to be a good negotiator, showing patience and tact when working with people at all levels of the corporate structure.

Hard Skills
Finally, every good cybersecurity consultant needs to master these skills:

Penetration Testing
Acting like a hacker, the consultant needs to see how secure the system is and gauge the vulnerability of the client’s cyber programs and software.
Ethical Hacking and Coding Practices
Related to the first item, this means having a working knowledge of threat modeling and configurations.