Cybersecurity Guide
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Become a security analyst: skills and steps
September 10, 2025 - The job responsibilities of a security analyst can range from controlling file access and credentialing to maintaining firewalls and network updates, to proactively trying to hack systems to look for vulnerabilities and weaknesses. Like other job titles within the cybersecurity industry, a security analyst is best prepared by having a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, an information technology degree, or a degree in a related field.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
bls.gov › ooh › computer-and-information-technology › information-security-analysts.htm
Information Security Analysts : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Information security analysts plan and carry out security measures to protect an organization’s computer networks and systems.
What Is a Cybersecurity Analyst?
A cybersecurity analyst is a trained cyberprofessional who specializes in network and IT infrastructure security. The cybersecurity analyst thoroughly understands cyberattacks, malware, and the behavior of cybercriminals, and actively seeks to anticipate and prevent these attacks. The analyst usually possesses at least a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity or a related field.
wgu.edu
wgu.edu › career-guide › information-technology › cybersecurity-analyst-career.html
What Does a Cybersecurity Analyst Do?
What Does a Cybersecurity Analyst Do?
A cybersecurity analyst protects company hardware, software, and networks from cybercriminals. The analyst's primary role is to understand company IT infrastructure in detail, monitor it at all times, and evaluate threats that could potentially breach the network. The cybersecurity analyst continuously looks for ways to enhance company network security and protect its sensitive information.
The cybersecurity analyst is also responsible for:
Configuring Tools: This may come in the form of virus software, password protectors, and vulnerability management software. They will evaluate what the c
wgu.edu
wgu.edu › career-guide › information-technology › cybersecurity-analyst-career.html
What Does a Cybersecurity Analyst Do?
How Much Does a Cybersecurity Analyst Make?
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the average annual salary of a cybersecurity analyst is $103,590. The longer you are in this field, the more you can make. However, if you have a Master's and a specialized skill set, you may be able to make more. There will be different pay rates for various titles.
wgu.edu
wgu.edu › career-guide › information-technology › cybersecurity-analyst-career.html
What Does a Cybersecurity Analyst Do?
Videos
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Indeed
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Cyber Security Analyst Jobs, Employment in New York, NY | Indeed
265 Cyber Security Analyst jobs available in New York, NY on Indeed.com. Apply to Information Security Officer, Cybersecurity Consultant, Special Agent and more!
Indeed
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Cyber Security Analyst Jobs, Employment in Los Angeles, CA | Indeed
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The life of an Information Security Analyst
I work effectively as a first responder in my IT company for our clients. Everything could be a threat gets sent to me to take care of first. To start with the boring stuff, I see a lot obvious phishing emails that clients are unsure about which can be tedious. Auditing security features between our clients can also be tedious (but we are working on tools to speed that up). As much as I am supposed to prevent it from happening, it is quite exciting when someone's account gets fully compromised. I enjoy hunting down what happened, creating a timeline, and generally learning more about the tools that attackers now have at their disposal (like Phishing as a Service tools). It gets the blood pumping, and the victims are generally appreciative that you are there to help in their time of need. Perhaps I have been lucky in that no one in my experience has been very mad about the why-did-this-happen part of the discussion. I also work in a company of less than 30 so I wear a lot of hats, and I don't know what my position would be like at a bigger company. Overall I enjoy my work, and it is a good position to learn more and more about CS. More on reddit.com
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August 10, 2024Landed a Job in a SOC as a Cyber Security Analyst. Need direction in learning Linux.
Work only on a Linux box at home for the next three weeks. More on reddit.com
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January 22, 2018I am currently a Cyber Security Analyst who is being offered a free 14 week devops course. Should i take it?
Without knowing what the course is, it’s going to be pretty hard for folks to suggest anything.
More on reddit.com 21
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September 10, 2018Pros and Cons of a cyber security career?
Pro: I’m in my mid 20s and make 6 figures Con: It’s stressful and exhausting a lot of days. Pro: I can do pretty much anything on a computer comfortably and troubleshoot most of not any issue. Con: I spend a large amount of time even when not working on my computer doing research and studying. Very time consuming. Pro: I work with highly intelligent people, much moreso than MOST people that work on the IT side. Con: Oftentimes when IT has issues, we end up being the ones able to troubleshoot the issue, they correct it. Pro: some days are very interesting and I feel as though I’m really making a difference and what im doing matters Con: some days it feels repetitive and exhausting. Overall, it’s a great career but highly stressful especially when working for a very large corporate entity. So much different technologies and legacy technology, always somewhere with limited visibility. I work on the blue team, specifically as an analyst/incident responder and support the threat hunting team as that’s where I’d like to end up in the future. At this stage in my life I’m ahead of most of my peers in their career just based off of passion and willingness to study outside of work. More on reddit.com
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July 18, 2024Reddit
reddit.com › r/cybersecurity › the life of an information security analyst
r/cybersecurity on Reddit: The life of an Information Security Analyst
August 10, 2024 -
I have a bit of a curious question for you. I’m wondering, what does a typical day at work look like for you as an information security analyst? Is it everything you imagined it would be? Does it feel fulfilling, thrilling, or perhaps a bit monotonous at times? Or maybe it’s somewhere in between?
I’m asking because I’m currently on a similar path, working my way up the corporate ladder in this field. I’m genuinely interested in how you view the choice of this career and what its implications have been for you so far.
Top answer 1 of 5
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I work effectively as a first responder in my IT company for our clients. Everything could be a threat gets sent to me to take care of first. To start with the boring stuff, I see a lot obvious phishing emails that clients are unsure about which can be tedious. Auditing security features between our clients can also be tedious (but we are working on tools to speed that up). As much as I am supposed to prevent it from happening, it is quite exciting when someone's account gets fully compromised. I enjoy hunting down what happened, creating a timeline, and generally learning more about the tools that attackers now have at their disposal (like Phishing as a Service tools). It gets the blood pumping, and the victims are generally appreciative that you are there to help in their time of need. Perhaps I have been lucky in that no one in my experience has been very mad about the why-did-this-happen part of the discussion. I also work in a company of less than 30 so I wear a lot of hats, and I don't know what my position would be like at a bigger company. Overall I enjoy my work, and it is a good position to learn more and more about CS.
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Typical Day: Reviewing emails reported for suspected phishing; picking them apart to determine impact if an end-user did happen to engage said phishing email, such as reversing maldocs, etc. Documenting these TTP’s in an enrichment log to identify trends and improve analysis techniques. Responding to/and investigating alerts from SIEM and CrowdStrike Falcon. Several times a week/month: Threat Hunting, looking for anomalous network traffic and suspicious processes spawned, weird binaries executed, etc Performing various recurring tasks such as: baseline hardening audits against systems to ensure they’re built in accordance with hardening standards, account reviews, distributing phishing tests, capturing and reporting metrics Vulnerability management, mostly prioritizing vulnerabilities and distributing tenable reports to the relevant teams. Researching 0 and n+1 days, ensuring that mitigations/patched get applied if necessary. CTI, researching current threat/ransomware actor TTP’s to ensure IOC detections remain current and Maintaining my employers 27001 certification, preserving audit evidence, performing risk assessments, recommending risk treatment activities, updating and reviewing policies and procedures Reviewing anomalous account logins, tweaking conditional access policies Monthly: Vendor Due-Diligence/Third Party Risk Assessments and vendor supply chain analysis Security Awareness Training Presentations Drafting and distributing threat advisories that may impact our personnel and our other assets Assessing control effectiveness, such as looking for crafty ways to avoid DLP, or circumventing RBAC, adversary emulation exercises (cred stuffing, pass the hash attacks, avoiding detection) NAC reviews, mostly just looking for unmanaged devices on the internal network Analyzing new software requests to ensure they’re free from malicious activities and content Annually: Reviewing IP allocations to ensure complete knowledge of attack surface Attack surface reduction Recommending and Implementing new solutions, such as ZTNA, risk platforms, data discovery tools, etc Penetration test scoping — Everything I imagined? No. Exciting? No. Completely monotonous? Yes. Burn out? Absolutely. Working towards something? Maybe management in the same exact role- so realistically, No. Pride in the work? No. Can it be cool sometimes? For sure. Does it pay well? Absolutely. Best perk: home/work balance extremely favors home. Most of these things can be automated, and some weeks, hours of work is negligible at best.
WGU
wgu.edu › career-guide › information-technology › cybersecurity-analyst-career.html
What Does a Cybersecurity Analyst Do?
July 15, 2025 - The analyst's primary role is to understand company IT infrastructure in detail, to monitor it at all times, and to evaluate threats that could potentially breach the network. The cybersecurity analyst continuously looks for ways to enhance ...
Indeed
indeed.com › q-cyber-security-analyst-l-denver,-co-jobs.html
Cyber Security Analyst Jobs, Employment in Denver, CO | Indeed
372 Cyber Security Analyst jobs available in Denver, CO on Indeed.com. Apply to Security Engineer, Security Analyst, Information Systems Security Officer and more!
Indeed
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Cyber Security Analyst Jobs, Employment in Detroit, MI | Indeed
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Cyber Security Analyst Jobs, Employment in Houston, TX | Indeed
Adaptability & Learning: Eagerness to stay current with emerging cyber threats, security technologies, and methodologies. Work with state-of-the-art technology. The Sr Cybersecurity Analyst is responsible for monitoring and responding to security incidents, implementing robust security measures, and developing…
Indeed
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Cyber Security Analyst Jobs, Employment in Colorado Springs, CO | Indeed
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Indeed
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Cybersecurity Analyst Jobs, Employment in Jackson, MS | Indeed
Salary Search: Manager, AI Security Controls Program salaries in Jackson, MS ... Minimum five years of recent practical experience in cybersecurity, focusing on network and web application penetration testing, red teaming, AI red teaming,…
ZipRecruiter
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$109k-$155k Cyber Security Jobs in Detroit, MI (NOW HIRING)
The Cyber Security Architecture Analyst II will provide support to several areas (IT, Compliance, Risk, Privacy, and Cyber Security) and function, in information security architecture/data security ...
ZipRecruiter
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$82k-$175k Cyber Security Analyst Jobs in Denver, CO
Position Overview We are seeking an experienced Cyber & Security Product Owner to lead the ... Conduct threat landscape analysis and security gap assessments to inform product decisions ... A cybersecurity analyst works to secure a company or organization’s computer network and monitor for possible threats to the information systems and databases.
Indeed
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Indeed
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Provide expertise to define procedures for response to customer cyber security incidents in the industrial control system environment. Apply and configure security controls for production, development, and test systems to maintain robust security postures. View all Missionbox Solutions jobs ...
Indeed
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Cyber Security Jobs, Employment in Spokane, WA | Indeed
Conduct and support cyber mission planning, briefing, executions and debriefing. They assess and report vulnerabilities, repair and install client systems, and… · The Operational Risk Analyst is responsible for implementing business unit specific risk and governance efforts, including the establishment and maintenance of…
LinkedIn
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689 Cyber Security Analyst jobs in New York, United States
Today's top 689 Cyber Security Analyst jobs in New York, United States. Leverage your professional network, and get hired. New Cyber Security Analyst jobs added daily.
ZipRecruiter
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Entry Level Cyber Security Analyst Jobs in Houston, TX
The Cyber Security Specialist will serve as a technical authority within Empyrean's Information ... Conduct in-depth analysis of security events and alerts, identifying root causes and coordinating ...
Indeed
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