5 REASONS WHY A CAREER IN PENETRATION TESTING IS THE NEXT BIG THING

Over the past few years, multiple high-profile cyber incidents have made their way to the headlines, emphasizing the increasing need for cybersecurity workforce. Firms belonging to different industries, including healthcare, government, retail, media, banking-finance, and others, are looking for dedicated security professionals. The job responsibilities of these experts may vary, but their end goal is to protect an organization’s private data and assets from the malicious intent of an attacker. This rewarding career path starts differently for professionals: sometimes individuals start right after their graduation, sometimes they move from one role to another, and sometimes they are promoted to further their roles and responsibilities by taking up advanced courses.

Cybersecurity careers based on experience and expertise level –

• Entry-level cybersecurity roles: System Admins/Engineers, IT Technician, SOC Analysts, Network Admins/Engineers, Security Specialist, etc.
• Mid-level cybersecurity roles: Ethical Hackers, Incident Responders, Incident Handlers, IT Auditors, etc.
• Advanced-level cybersecurity roles: Senior Penetration Testers, Security Analysts, Cybersecurity Manager/Architect/Engineer, etc.

Whether you are looking to enter the cybersecurity industry or to advance to higher-level jobs, the journey from Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH) to EC-Certified Penetration Testing Professional (CPENT) has you covered.

Why consider cybersecurity, especially penetration testing as a career option?

Choosing a career path can seem like a daunting task. These reasons will help you figure out if pentesting is for you.

• Zero-percent unemployment rate: In 2016, the cybersecurity unemployment rate dropped to zero percent; since then, it remained the same. The security talent gap is increasing with each year.
• Increasing job vacancies: Unfilled jobs for cybersecurity professionals will reach 5 million globally by 2021.
• Unlimited growth: Cybersecurity presents unlimited educational and career opportunities. Tech security is considered a dedicated discipline, but its branches demand numerous forms of skillsets.

The estimated job outlook from 2018 to 2028 for Information Security Analysts (or Penetration Testers) would grow by 32%, against the average growth rate of 5% for all the other occupations.

• Variety: Because of the broad skill set requirement, the industry always keeps you on your toes. A security professional covers a diverse range of backgrounds — information security, application security, network security, database security, and many others. This allows the professionals to switch from one domain to another or take over more responsibilities with experience.

Even penetration testers have a lot of methodologies to switch between social engineering penetration testing methodology, network penetration testing methodology, web application penetration testing methodology, and various others. They need to keep up with the different types of attacks, and that’s what makes this role interesting.

• Challenging and Rewarding: This industry challenges you with real-world problems but ensures to reward you with exciting salaries and perks. As per Dice 2019 Tech Salary Report, the average annual salaries for two cybersecurity job roles are (survey includes US-based professionals) –

Security Engineer

$ 110,716

Security Analyst (or Pen Tester)

$ 103,597

EC-Council Certified Penetration testing professional An all-in-one credential
Here is how the CPENT will help you advance in your career: https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-penetration-testing-professional-cpent/

Specialized Knowledge

Specialized knowledge refers to the in-depth and accurate knowledge of a specific branch of cybersecurity. There are numerous domains of cybersecurity, including network security, information security, application security, and various others. Professionals having dedicated knowledge in one of these domains can easily further their professional careers. CPENT is a professional training program that imparts focused knowledge on penetration testing. The attendees of this program are more likely to get better job opportunities as they will be well-versed with all the skills that the employers demand.

Continuous Learning

The C|EH program offers the advanced knowledge of cybersecurity but majorly focuses on numerous hacking methodologies from the information security and network security domains. On the other hand, CPENT deals with different penetration testing methodologies, including web application pen testing methodology, network penetration testing methodology, wireless pen testing methodology, and many others.

CPENT takes in the tools and techniques used in the C|EH program to help the attendees learn exploitation skills.

Advanced Analytical Phase

CPENT is an advanced pentesting training program as it takes the analytical phase explained in C|EH to the next level. CPENT also validates the learning from C|EH by analyzing the outcomes of methodologies and techniques. It offers the upgraded knowledge and skills that a C|EH credential holder possesses. Along with that, CPENT includes different methodologies dedicated to improving upon the best from ISO 27001, OSSTMM, and NIST standards.

Key highlights of CPENT : https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-penetration-testing-professional-cpent/

• It has separate modules dealing with database pen testing methodology, social engineering pen testing methodology, cloud penetration testing methodology, and several other forms.
• It is entirely mapped to the NICE 2.0 framework’s “Analyze (AN) and Collect and Operate (CO)” specialty area.
• It dedicated an entire module to ‘Report Writing and Post Testing Actions.’
• Most importantly, with its hands-on labs, the pen tester gets the taste of real-world challenges.
• It offers a bunch of standard templates that can be used at the time of penetration testing.

Start your cybersecurity journey with Certified Ethical Hacker (C|EH) Master. The program will provide all the required elementary and intermediate knowledge. Once you successfully attain C|EH, go ahead with EC-Council Certified Penetration Testing Professional (CPENT), another well-acclaimed training and credentialing program that focuses on a wide range of comprehensive scoping and engagement penetration testing methodologies. It includes manual as well as automated pentesting approaches, such as cloud, database, social engineering, and other forms. The program ensures that its attendees obtain hands-on experience as demanded by the top-notch organizations. It is mapped to the NICE 2.0 framework’s “Analyze” (AN) and “Collect and Operate” (CO) specialty areas, declaring it to be a holistic program that ensures you adopt the industry-demanded skills.

https://www.eccouncil.org/programs/certified-penetration-testing-professional-cpent/