Cybercrime was a blip when the FBI began keeping track of hacks and malicious attacks in 2017: over 300,000 cyberattacks cost the economy $1.4 billion.
Those numbers exploded — 847,376 complaints, $6.9 billion in losses — in 2021 when businesses decentralized at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years later, the volume of complaints has ticked down, but losses topped $10 billion.
“A bullseye is squarely on our nation’s businesses,” Cybercrime Magazine warns, noting more than half of all internal and external cybercrime attacks hit small- to medium-sized businesses. In addition, about 60% of these go out of business following the incursion.
Graduates of the online Master of Science (M.S.) in Cybersecurity program from Northern Kentucky University (NKU) are equipped to pursue rewarding careers defending organizations from cybercrime.
Why Is Cybersecurity an Ideal Career Choice?
As hackers expand the use of sophisticated technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence, and dark-web organized criminals provide Crimeware-as-a-Service to technology-challenged malicious actors, global economies face catastrophic financial damage.
Cybercriminals wrought $6.1 trillion in damages globally in 2022, according to Cybercrime Magazine. By 2025, Cybersecurity Ventures expects a $10.5 trillion loss due to damage and destruction of data; theft of money, intellectual property, personal and financial information; forensic investigations; and remediation.
This surge in cybercrime has created high demand for cybersecurity experts, but the talent pool cannot keep up. This deficit of available cybersecurity experts will likely last a long time — good for professionals, bad for businesses — through all economic cycles and regardless of political conditions.
In fact, employers listed 769,736 cybersecurity openings at the end of 3Q22 as demand grew more than twice as fast as the overall career growth rate across the U.S. economy. Nine of the 10 top months for cybersecurity job postings in the past 10 years have occurred in 2022.
What Are High-Demand Careers in Cybersecurity?
On its top 8 cybersecurity positions list for 2023, TechTarget includes the following mid-specializations, among others:
- Cybersecurity engineers design secure system architecture, data flow analysis and vulnerability mapping using models that ensure privacy, regulatory compliance and documentation.
- Information security analysts ensure security practices and processes — including incident response — are properly developed and deployed.
- Ethical hackers conduct penetration testing to find vulnerabilities and gaps in security protocols for networks, operating systems, hardware and apps. They also recommend fixes before hackers can breach weak spots.
- Computer forensics analysts collect data related to hacks and computer and network breaches using in-depth disk, memory, registry and file system forensic analysis techniques.
- Application security engineers leverage understanding and expertise in cloud computing, networking and storage to secure services and data.
“Constant [educational] engagement with professionals learning cryptography, security policies, malware analysis, and digital forensics…is an excellent way to advance your career,” according to The Economic Times. It emphasizes that a degree in cybersecurity “adds great value” to a global career.
How Do Professionals Acquire High-Demand Cybersecurity Skills?
An M.S. in Cybersecurity equips graduates with the technical expertise that future cybersecurity professionals need to guard against real-world digital threats. The curriculum offered by NKU immerses students in the security processes, principles and technologies that protect vital networks, devices and data.
The National Security Administration (NSA) recognizes the program as a National Center for Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity (NCAE-C) for its coursework that focuses on the following topics:
- Security architecture
- Incident response
- Ethical hacking
- Computer forensics
- Cloud computing and security
While the demand for cybersecurity professionals has never been higher, graduates of NKU’s program will have the necessary skills in the cybersecurity space to pursue various lucrative and essential roles.
Learn more about NKU’s online M.S. in Cybersecurity program.
