Top Tech Skills Needed by Cybersecurity Workers

It was resoundingly unanimous that these skills are in high demand: 

Containers and Microservices, DevSecOps, Scripting and Automation, and AI/ML Data Protection. 

What do these terms mean? Let’s break it down. 

Containers and Microservices 

Similar to a virtual machine, a container has its own share of the underlying CPU, filesystem, process space, and memory. But a container is more lightweight because it doesn’t need its own operating system. Kubernetes is an orchestration tool that manages these containers. Not only the deployment of them, but their orchestration too. Kubernetes isn’t the only platform for this, but it happens to be the most prevalent right now. 

Containers and microservices have emerged as a very popular strategy in cloud, security management and the software development world. Software developers need to spend their day designing and writing code while relying upon the DevOps folks to maintain the supporting environment that hosts their containers. 

DevSecOps

This role converges development with operations but embeds security as a driving force. Most internet searches on this term results in a nifty Venn diagram blending the three like a holy trinity. According to RedHat, DevSecOps is “an approach to culture, automation, and platform design that integrates security as a shared responsibility throughout the entire IT lifecycle.” 

Bringing the “Sec” into DevSecOps means you integrate security measures into the way the datacenter is managed. Whether you manage physical (on-prem) or cloud-based resources for your company, the deployment and usage of these resources must be secure. 

The “Dev” part doesn’t necessarily mean you are a full-fledged software developer. It simply means you know how to write code that will automate the deployment, management, and securing of these compute resources. 

According to our business advisory panel, cybersecurity job applicants should be able to write code with security at its core. Therefore, college curriculum for cybersecurity should include secure coding best practices. 

Scripting and Automation 

Here is where you need Python and JavaScript at the very least. A survey by StackOverflow ranks these two at the top, followed by TypeScript, HTML/CSS, SQL, Rust, and C#. In DevSecOps roles, knowing one of these languages helps you to automate the orchestration of compute resources. Testing is very important before going live and these coding languages enable testing to be scripted and automated. Furthermore, automated security is an invaluable part the cybersecurity “big picture.” You simply cannot be as secure without automation. 

One of our industry leaders said, “My new hires can pick up automation and orchestration skills as they go along. But first and foremost, I would hire them for their programming skills.” 

 AI/ML Data Protection 

This brings us to Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning data protection. AI is an umbrella term that encompasses an ever-changing multitude of ways in which computers simulate human intelligence. It relies upon huge repositories of data. Computerized algorithms study the data and make decisions and recommendations based upon it. Machine learning (ML) is a type of AI that makes more accurate predictions and judgements as more data is added and analyzed. 

As you can imagine, it is extremely important to keep the underlying data safe, uncorrupted, and accurate. If data which feeds AIML gets tainted, this can affect business, social, and political decisions in unwanted and unpleasant ways. It’s called data poisoning, and it can happen intentionally or unintentionally. When collecting andor using data to train ML algorithms, care is needed to ensure that the data is categorized and presented properly. Thus, sloppy or ignorant data management can result in poisoning too. The effects can range from mildly annoying to potentially deadly. 

Cybersecurity job seekers who know about protecting and cleaning AIML data will have a competitive advantage in the job hunt. 

Embedding these skills into college curriculum 

Community and technical colleges can incorporate these topics into their curriculum. Start by looking at the test objectives for industry certificates like: 

• Kubernetes Certified Administrator (CKA)
• Certified Kubernetes Application developer (CKAD)
• Certified DevSecOps Engineer (CDE)
• Certified DevOps Security Professional (CDSP)
• Certified Information Privacy Technologist (CIPT)
• Certified Machine Learning Security Professional (CMLSP)

Rather than deep dive into any single certification, colleges should introduce some of the skills and concepts covered by these certs. Look for ways to demonstrate these items in hands-on labs and capstone projects. Collaborate with industry partners who can bring case studies and guest lectures to the classroom. 

If looking for a new curriculum, consider a course on Cloud-Native Security that covers Kubernetes, DevSecOps and AI/ML Data Protection within the context of cloud computing security. 

In the competition to land a job, hands-on experience has much power. Colleges should invest significant effort into finding internships for grads and near-grads. To that end, it’s important to cultivate relationships with local employers.  Host an open-house or a lunch-and-learn and invite local businesses.

Ask local businesses about the cybersecurity-related skills and abilities that they look for in new hires. Their most sought-after skills may differ from those highlighted here. Try to incorporate them into college curriculum. Bring it full circle by teaching students how to highlight these skills in their resumes and discuss them in job interviews. 

Feedback 

Please share your thoughts. Does your learning institution have an effective way to absorb industry requests into the curriculum. Reach us from the Contact section of this website.