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What is Cybersecurity?

If you put the Ancient Greek word for steersman (kubernetes) together with the Latin word for being without care (securus), you (after 2000 years of linguistic evolution) end up with the term cybersecurity. It’s the opposite of another recently coined term, cybercrime, which denotes criminal activities performed with and on computers. There is an alarming number of marauders out there who would like nothing better than to infiltrate your computer network to make away with valuable data, damage your hardware, or generally ravage your system by taking advantage of the fact that, thanks to the internet, nearly all computers today are interconnected easy prey.

Among the forms that cybercrime can take are:

Ransomware,
Spyware,
Worms and viruses,
Exploitable backdoors,
Denial of service attacks,
Direct service attacks,
Phishing,
Smishing (that’s phishing using an SMS texting platform),
Social Engineering, and
Man-in-the-middle eavesdropping attacks.

Each of these can be used for different nefarious purposes. Some hackers hack because they can; their satisfaction lies in the creation of havoc. That classic breed of hacker has largely been replaced by unequivocal criminal types who bring baser desires to the table and seek to purloin and make use of sensitive information, take entire networks hostage by encrypting them and demanding a ransom payment in hard-to-trace cryptocurrency, and even undermine a country’s national security through cyber espionage.

Cybersecurity is the field that has emerged in response to these threats. A computer network can be protected in one of two ways that, in the trade, are known as red team and blue team. The former is the offense squad: their job is to simulate cyberattacks, the better to anticipate and prevent them. Red team players often go by the term penetration testers. The blue team plays defense and works to secure networks from possible threats so that the appropriate bulwarks are in place when an attack does happen. It’s all very much a latter-day version of war games, only the games are all played inside and with nothing beyond keyboards for weapons.

There is an entire panoply of cybersecurity measures that can be taken to prevent or foil an attack on a network. These range from such obvious techniques as enjoining a network’s users to practice digital hygiene and not download material from suspicious emails, to placing physical locks on servers, to using machine learning techniques to teach computers to defend themselves.

A Wild West metaphor is often used to separate the good hackers (Ethical Hacker is a profession unto itself) from the bad ones: white-hatted and black-hatted, just like the heroes and villains in screen Westerns. Those who wear white hats mostly fall into one of the following categories:

Security architect,
IT auditor,
Security software developer,
Computer forensics analyst,
Cryptography engineer,
Penetration tester (red team),
Vulnerability management (blue team), and
Ethical hacker.

Among the countermeasures at these good guys’ disposal, you’ll encounter:

Reducing vulnerabilities,
Data loss prevention software,
Firewalls,
Hardware protection,
Inoculation against viruses,
Cryptography, and
Computer security incident response.

All these tools are important, and, frequently, several of them are used at the same time. Nearly everyone has a firewall (if you don’t, you should), and they usually constitute the first line of defense. Often, however, more sophisticated means of protection and penetration testing are involved to keep a network safe. Cybersecurity professionals are there to implement these strategies and make sure that, by the end of the movie, the good guys triumph over the bad guys.

What Will I Learn in a Cybersecurity Class?

Universities award degrees in cybersecurity at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels. You can, therefore, spend upwards of four years learning the intricate details of cybersecurity in particular and computer science in general. That’s not the only way to break into the field: you can become a cybersecurity professional without quite so much training, as long as you’re willing to learn the fundamentals of the discipline and work your way up through the ranks of an IT department.

Cybersecurity has at its roots the creation, maintenance and operation of computer networks. That explains why IT departments have become proving grounds for future cybersecurity experts. Much of what you’ll learn in a cybersecurity course will come back to creating the most impenetrable network you can. You’ll study firewalls, VPNs, intrusion detection systems, and the nature of data and how they may be secured. The cloud is a further topic your class will cover, as it can pose giant vulnerability problems regardless of its convenience. A cybersecurity course will also delve into computer operating systems, as it is at the level of the operating system that most cyber mischief takes place.

One thing you won’t absolutely need to know how to do is code. Cybersecurity depends more on the ability to solve problems than on the ability to program, although the more you know about computer languages, the more effective you’ll be in combating threats to your network. You can certainly increase your usefulness for a cybersecurity role if you know your way around a computer or language or two. Python is always a very good beginning and a very good place to start, although the more difficult C and C++ have their uses as well, as does Ruby, a language much liked by hackers, both the ethical and the unethical, and, thus, potentially handy for anyone working in cybersecurity.

Will I Need to be Certified to Get a Job in Cybersecurity?

Indubitably.

While certifications can be nice things to have but aren’t necessary for getting a job in many tech fields, that’s not the case with cybersecurity, where you’ll be expected to possess a number of certifications to show that you have the requisite skills to do your job. Don’t expect your resume to make its way into a pair of human hands if it lacks even the CompTIA A+.

The overall situation with cybersecurity certifications is incredibly complicated, largely due to the fact that no one central certifying authority exists. Instead, a certification can come from the likes of the International Risk Management Certification Board, EC-Council, CertNexus, CompTIA, ISACA or ISC2. If that sounds like a lot to remember, consider the pseudo-acronyms by which the certifications themselves are known: CFR, CSA, CySA, CISM, CSSLP, CC, CISSP, and, to give the letter C a break, ISSMP, OSDA and A+.

It’s as confusing as that makes it sound. You may also confuse these certifications with certificates, which are likewise a part of the cybersecurity training picture. Just as some people might think that adding salami to a Cuban sandwich isn’t a big deal, but Miamians know better, so are certificates and certifications completely different things. A certificate, like a diploma, is what you get for completing a course of study. You’ll get one from your school when you finish your cybersecurity class. A certification, on the other hand, is what you get when you pass an examination given by a third party to assess your abilities objectively.

Most probably, the first certification you’ll obtain is the CompTIA A+. You earn it by passing a pair of 90-minute exams, one of which concentrates on hardware, mobile devices and the cloud, and one that focuses on security, software troubleshooting and operating systems. The administering authority, CompTIA, recommends that you have a year’s work experience before sitting for the exam. The tests are both given by Pearson VUE, and can be taken either at a testing center or, if you wish to take advantage of remote proctoring, at home.

Despite the one-year recommendation, the CompTIA A+ is an entry-level certification for anyone seeking to make a career in IT and not just cybersecurity. It’s also only the first of many certifications you’ll earn as your career develops. You’ve got quite a bit of test-taking in your future if you choose to make your living in cybersecurity.

How Hard is it to Learn Cybersecurity?

It’s harder than learning to make scrambled eggs, and easier than assembling anything from IKEA that involves drawers.

The chief difficulty in learning cybersecurity is that the field is always in flux. The bad guys are always looking for new ways to wreak their particular brand of havoc, and, thus, what might have been cutting-edge six months ago is already antiquated. The white hats are, most of the time, trying to play catch-up with the black hats and their latest nefarious plans to attack networks for profit or fun.

Some cyberattacks have been easily foiled, as was the case with the 2017 “WannaCry” ransomware virus that attacked computers the world over, not least of all those of the British National Health Service. In a matter of hours, an interesting character and not-overly-ethical hacker named Marcus Hutchins discovered a kill switch erroneously stuck into the virus that put an end to the pandemonium. Other attacks have not as easily been stopped in their tracks, such as the 2023 zero-day attack targeted at Progress Software that impacted the BBC, British Airways, Boots and even the Government of Nova Scotia. The attack is assumed to have been the work of the Russian cyber gang Clop (CI0P), and, while the virus has been largely contained, the criminals remain at large with an estimated $75 million in cryptocurrency ransom payments.

Learning to be an effective cybersecurity operative includes a great deal less math and computer science than a lot of other information technology fields such as programming. There’s a certain amount of out-of-the-box thinking that goes with cybersecurity, along with a knack for psychology, as you need to think like a hacker in order to defeat one.

There are, thus, many tech endeavors that are harder to learn than the essentials of cybersecurity. If you like solving problems, don’t mind learning some very basic things about networking, and feel you can handle a discipline that’s always changing, you have the makings of an effective cybersecurity operative.

Is It Worth It to Learn Cybersecurity?

Originally, hackers hacked for the thrills and fun of unleashing chaos on an unsuspecting world, but, today, most hackers are in it for substantial bitcoin payoffs as well as remuneration gained through the dark web. These hackers aren’t looking for a steady job, steady paycheck and steady health insurance, so cybercrime is worth it for reasons quite different from those you’re probably looking for in cybersecurity.

The good news for most people interested in the latter field is that there are jobs available, and an abundance of new ones to be created in the next decade. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics figures for the year 2023, there were 180,000 Information Security Analysts (the BLS’ category for cybersecurity professionals) working in the United States in 2023, and that job growth for the category is anticipated to be 33% for the period 2023-2033. That’s a whopper of a statistic that equates to 60,000 new jobs. That, in turn, is going to make for a lot of black-hatted varmints crawling out from under rocks on the dark web, although, if you can call it a bright side, the surplus varmints create a lot of opportunity on the white-hat side of the equation.

In the United States overall, Information Security Analysts pull in a median annual salary of $120,000. Before you get too excited about making a six-figure salary right off the bat, remember that that figure is a median, which means that half the cybersecurity workers in the country make less than $120,000 per annum. (It also means that the other half of the cybersecurity workforce makes more than that, but those aren’t entry-level salaries.)

In Greater Miami (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach, as the BLS defines it), the annual mean salary for Information Security Analysts is $116,000. That number has to be balanced against a cost of living that is 19% greater than the national average, and a location quotient for cybersecurity workers of only 0.73. This last statistic is an index that shows the density of employment for a given category of worker: in this case, it means that there are fewer opportunities in the area for work in the sector than the national average. Still, there are 2300 people working in the field in Greater Miami, so there certainly are jobs for those who want to try to get them.

Given the forecast of enormous growth, trying for a career in cybersecurity is definitely worth it, although, if you’re doing it without a degree, you'll have to work your way up from entry-level positions for it to be truly financially rewarding. As for the employment situation in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, it by no means means that employment will be impossible to find, and, of course, there is nothing that says you have to remain in the area: the greatest density of cybersecurity professionals in the country is in Washington, DC, where the location quotient is 4.6.

Miami Industries that Employ Cybersecurity Professionals

The organization that can afford to ignore its cybersecurity needs simply doesn’t exist at this point in time. Cybersecurity is a wide-ranging field that extends all the way from the two-step authentication protocols that are becoming annoyingly ubiquitous to enormously elaborate cyber-counter espionage operations. The threat posed by cybercriminals is real and constant.

Of course, not all businesses have the same cybersecurity needs. Books & Books and Don Burrito have less complex networks to keep safe than Burger King or Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, but a cyberattack can be devastating to any size business. Miami plays host to a wide variety of industries, ranging from tourism to healthcare to finance, and, wide though that range is, cybersecurity is a major leveler. Without proper protection, all these companies’ networks and the information they contain (credit card details, sensitive medical records, account numbers and balances) are so many easy marks just waiting to get ripped off.

You can thus end up just about in any industry in Miami as a cybersecurity specialist, be it a hospital, one of the numerous international banks that call Magic City home, or one of the tourism giants that are based in the area as well, from American Airlines to Carnival Cruises. Above and beyond huge corporations and their large cybersecurity departments, you can also find work with an independent cybersecurity firm that caters to the needs of less gargantuan companies. These firms also come in different sizes: some have hundreds of employees, some have fewer than ten, and some consist of a lone freelancer who can work all kinds of hacking miracles single-handedly.

Is There Anything I Should Learn in Addition to Cybersecurity?

Absolutely.

You need to learn everything you can about computer networks, from how to plug cords into hardware to operating systems to monitoring the network and making sure that it keeps functioning. You’ll encounter some of that in a cybersecurity class, but, as most cybersecurity careers begin in the IT department, the more capable you are in working with networks, the more likely you are to land such a role. You may, therefore, find yourself working a help desk, unpacking computers, helping the absent-minded recover their passwords, and making sure that the users of your network aren’t accessing sites they shouldn’t. It’s not all glitter and glamor, but every career has to start somewhere.

Your repertoire of IT skills should include:

Basic computer software (including Excel, PowerPoint, and especially Microsoft Word),
Rudimentary data analysis,
Advanced networking techniques,
Troubleshooting, and
Fundamental cybersecurity principles.

You’ll need to know the principal office software in use, as you’re likely to start off as a point of contact of first resort for people when they have troubles they need to shoot. You should also know about how databases work, again because you may be called upon to provide support, and because databases are the chief things that cybersecurity measures are designed to protect. None of these skills is overly difficult to pick up, and they will serve you well throughout your career. There will always be IT departments in need of staff, and, should cybersecurity not work out as you’d hoped, you’ll always have your IT skills on which to fall back. You should never underestimate the importance of always having a professional Plan B in your back pocket.

Should I Learn Cybersecurity Online or Live?

If you want to learn to mix up an A Lonely Island Lost in the Middle of a Foggy Sea, clean your dog’s teeth, or work on professional development, you’ll have three types of classes from which to choose: the live in-person class, the live online class, and the self-paced class. The first of these is what you probably equate with going to school, since it’s how you learned everything from the alphabet to all that Spanish you’ve since forgotten. It involves being in the same physical room as the teacher and the other students, and having but to raise your hand to ask a question. You get an unparalleled amount of contact with your teacher, but, shy of enrolling in college, live in-person classes for adult education are increasingly difficult to find, even in a market the size of Miami.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t learn cybersecurity in the 305. You’re simply going to have to turn to the internet to bring the learning to you. Any online class gives you the option of studying in whatever space you find comfortable, be it your living room or by using the free wifi at Books & Books or your nearest Starbucks, although that may not be the best setting for a live class in which you’ll interact with the teacher, unless the people at the next table have cybersecurity questions of their own. In fact, the live online class gives you nearly as much contact in real-time with the teacher as the live in-person class. You’ll just have to get used to clicking on a raised-hand icon instead of raising your actual hand. It’s a minor adjustment, and, once you’ve made it, you’ll be able to ask questions to your heart’s content. You’ll even be able to ask questions of your fellow students, be it in a group chat, or by messaging them directly.

The third option rather pales in contrast to the first two, in that it allows no communication with the instructor. A self-paced or on-demand class is really just a bushel of video tutorials that you can watch at your convenience from wherever you want. Very busy people are prime candidates for this type of class, as they may have trouble attending a regularly scheduled class. These courses have two substantial drawbacks: the first, already mentioned, is that you get no contact with the teacher, and, thus, no possibility of asking the questions that will inevitably arise. The second is that canned video tutorials can very easily go past their sale dates without being taken down from the internet and, thus, not offer up-to-date information. That's especially problematic in a field that is as constantly changing as cybersecurity.

You are probably best off with a live online class. You get a best-of-both-worlds kind of arrangement that allows you live contact with your instructor and yet the chance to study from a comfortable place without the need to commute to a brick-and-mortar school building. A further benefit is that you’ll get a healthy range of possibilities from which to choose when it comes to selecting a school; live online classes are far, far more abundant than live in-person ones. Among the providers from which you’ll be able to choose are established online tech schools like Noble Desktop, Fullstack Academy, or the edX courses hosted by a number of big-name universities.

Can I Learn Cybersecurity for Free Online?

A cybersecurity class that you can follow online without having any money change hands sounds too good to be true. It is. There unquestionably are free cybersecurity tutorials on YouTube; one even claims to teach you how to hack in six minutes. That’s obviously not to be taken seriously, but there are longer free courses from which you can choose as well. (Some of these are, in reality, introductions to paid on-demand courses, so don’t be disappointed when they pass the hat before you’ve completed the course.) While there are some cybersecurity courses of relatively recent date on YouTube, far more of them have been gathering dust on a server in distant Hamina, Finland for several years. Video tutorials in rapidly changing topics age about as well as lettuce does.

Nonetheless, these free tutorials aren’t entirely without their uses. If nothing else, they allow you to put out feelers, discover what cybersecurity is all about, and, most importantly, find out whether it’s something you’d like to study. Prior to signing up for a paid course, you could exercise a little caveat emptor and learn at least a few things about the field. Do be careful, however, to choose classes of recent date. And, if you ultimately select a paid on-demand class, be extra sure to check when the course was last revised.

Corporate Cybersecurity Training with Noble Desktop

Have you got a team that needs to brush up its cybersecurity skills? Whether it’s a course in advanced penetration testing or one in digital hygiene that will curb your employees’ urges to open and download attachments from phishing emails, Noble Desktop can help you by arranging exactly the type of cybersecurity class you want. You get to build the syllabus and have one of Noble’s experienced instructors come to your location for onsite learning, or let Zoom deliver the class for as many people in as many locations as you wish.

For smaller teams, Noble also offers vouchers that will let your personnel take one or more of Noble’s regularly scheduled cybersecurity classes. Very attractive discounts are available for multiple purchases. If you have any questions about how Noble Desktop can help with your organization’s cybersecurity needs, please contact the corporate sales department for further information.

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Key Insights

Learn More About Miami Cybersecurity Bootcamps

What is Cybersecurity?

What Will I Learn in a Cybersecurity Class?

Will I Need to be Certified to Get a Job in Cybersecurity?

How Hard is it to Learn Cybersecurity?

Is It Worth It to Learn Cybersecurity?

Miami Industries that Employ Cybersecurity Professionals

Is There Anything I Should Learn in Addition to Cybersecurity?

Should I Learn Cybersecurity Online or Live?

Can I Learn Cybersecurity for Free Online?

Corporate Cybersecurity Training with Noble Desktop

Miami Cybersecurity Bootcamps by School

Cybersecurity Analytics Bootcamp (Full or Part Time) (Online)

Cybersecurity Bootcamp

Cybersecurity Part-Time

Cyber Defense Analyst Bootcamp

CompTIA Security+ Boot Camp

CEH: Certified Ethical Hacking Boot Camp

Miami Cybersecurity Corporate & Onsite Training Noble Desktop

Cybersecurity Training Locations in or Near Miami

Miami Careers & Salaries Related to Cybersecurity

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Fullstack Academy Cybersecurity Analytics Bootcamp (Full or Part Time) (Online)
Editor’s Choice

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