Cybersecurity careers appeal to college students due to the large number of opportunities available and the pride that comes with defending society against cyberattacks. There are a wide variety of roles available within the cybersecurity industry, such as Malware Analysis, Digital Forensics, Threat Response, etc. We will explore Penetration Testing and Red Teaming in this blog, and discuss career prospects in this field.
What Are Penetration Testing and Red Teaming?
Before we expand on careers in Penetration Testing and Red Teaming, let us first understand what they refer to:
Penetration Testing, which is more usually known as Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing (VAPT) is a process of analysing an organisation’s cybersecurity with the goal of identifying weaknesses in cyber defences. This process is similar to an audit, and a report is submitted to the organisation listing the weaknesses identified.
Vulnerability Assessment involves scanning the organisation’s computing assets to identify all potential vulnerabilities and assessing the associated risk. Vulnerabilities are contextual i.e., what may be a vulnerability in one organisation may not be a vulnerability in another, and therefore Vulnerability Assessment requires understanding the organisation and its business processes to discover vulnerabilities. A device that isn’t automatically installing available updates due to insufficient memory is an example of a vulnerability.
Penetration Testing involves ethical hacking to discover if, and to what extent, a vulnerability may be exploited by a threat actor and the impact if it is successfully exploited. A penetration test of the vulnerability example provided in the previous paragraph might attempt to plant malware in the unprotected machine and then move laterally through the organisation’s network until access to unencrypted Personally Identifiable Information (PII) of customers is obtained. Penetration testing is time- and resource-intensive and therefore all identified vulnerabilities will not undergo penetration testing.
Red Teaming simulates a real-world cyberattack and this exercise will usually include a Blue Team (the organisation’s IT team) which will try to counter the Red Team attack. Red Team exercises are performed to obtain a realistic picture of the organisation’s ability to defend against a determined and knowledgeable attacker.
Difference between VAPT and Red Teaming
Red Teaming will include VAPT but a Red Team exercise will usually have a wider scope than a VAPT assignment; internal teams will not be informed that a Red Team attack simulation will be conducted, and will have to respond believing the attack is real.
Why Opportunities are Growing in Ethical Hacking
The increase in digital transformation and remote working has created more opportunities for threat actors to attack organisations, and the costs and consequences of a cyberattack keep increasing, resulting in an expansion in demand for ethical hacking services, like Penetration Testing and Red Teaming, that can identify an organisation’s cyber weaknesses. Penetration Testing is also increasingly mandated for businesses e.g., the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) expects Mutual Funds and Asset Management Companies to perform VAPT once in a financial year (or twice a year if they are classified as a protected system) through an external agency and submit the report within a month.
The global Penetration Testing market is expected to increase from USD 1.4 billion in 2022 to USD 2.7 billion by 2027. This growth is likely to sustain beyond this period as well, as digital transformation is expected to accelerate (and not reduce) in future which will be accompanied by an increase in demand for cybersecurity professionals who have the knowledge and skills to provide effective ethical hacking services. College students who choose to specialise in cybersecurity can expect to enjoy a stable and rewarding career with many opportunities for long-term growth.
What Credentials are Required?
Organisations seeking to recruit ethical hacking experts with an emphasis on Penetration Testing and Red Teaming look for
Knowledge of IT Infrastructure in an Enterprise Environment
Ethical hackers need to understand the IT environment to successfully compromise an organisation, and should be familiar with types of hardware, software, middleware, servers, and other computing assets used in the enterprise.
Ethical Hacking Skills
Ethical hackers must have expert familiarity with hacking tools to be able to test an organisation’s defences against the cyber weapons that would be deployed against them by a cyberattacker.
Understanding of TTPs Used by Threat Actors
Penetration Testing and Red Teaming are expected to replicate cyberattacks. Ethical hackers will, therefore, need to have an in-depth understanding of the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures used by threat actors to create simulations of real-world attacks.
How Can College Students Access Cybersecurity Careers?
K7 Academy offers cybersecurity courses for students and professionals that are designed to suit varying levels of skills and experience. College students who wish to gain the skills required to enter the cybersecurity field can Contact Us for more information on our cybersecurity courses that include hands-on learning with training from cybersecurity experts.
The employability of college students is a critical factor in how colleges are judged, and colleges strive to offer courses that match the requirements of the job market and arm their students with the skills that employers want. In this context, a report from Gartner that discusses human resources in cybersecurity provides interesting insight on the future of the cybersecurity job market: the report states that, by 2025, stress will cause nearly half of cybersecurity leaders to change jobs with 25% opting for different roles; and lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents.
An analysis of the report’s findings reveals that a) recruiting cybersecurity talent can help prevent many cyberattacks, and b) cybersecurity practitioners will be able to access many opportunities to progress in their career as leaders choose to seek fresh challenges. Other studies, that project a shortfall in skilled cybersecurity candidates of 1.5 million in India and 3.5 million across the world by 2025, further indicate that students with job-ready cybersecurity skills will be highly employable and enjoy rewarding careers. Colleges that can develop such skills in students will, consequently, attract ambitious and highly capable students.
How Colleges Can Develop Cybersecurity Talent
Colleges cannot make students highly employable through a theoretical course on cybersecurity, as that is not what employers require. Job-ready attributes that will make students employable include
Colleges and universities that wish to develop students into well-qualified cybersecurity talent will need to provide the facilities (research labs) and knowledge (academic courses) required to satisfy the requirements listed above. These requirements are highly research-centric and industry-oriented, and colleges will need to partner with cybersecurity companies that have comprehensive malware research expertise, access to malware samples, and expert knowledge on safe handling of malware, to offer compelling cybersecurity courses.
K7 Academy’s College Partnership
K7 Academy’s K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme enables colleges to partner with K7 to provide world-class cybersecurity training to their students. K7 will provide knowledge support, infrastructure guidance, and malware samples to partner colleges for courses on topics that are critical to enterprise cybersecurity:
All courses have been designed and developed based on K7’s 30+ years’ expertise in the cybersecurity industry which includes winning multiple international awards and operating K7 Labs, one of the world’s leading cyberthreat research centres that has been the first discoverer of several malware.
How the Partnership Works
Partnering with K7 will enable the college to establish a malware lab within their campus and gain cybersecurity training for faculty, allowing the institution to build significant academic assets in malware research that will help them appeal to students seeking careers in cybersecurity. Programme highlights include
Components of the Programme
Lab Approval and Setup
K7 Academy provides technical specifications for the required hardware, software, and infrastructure, and guidance to help the college establish the lab. K7 Academy will also
Train the Trainer
K7 Academy will train college faculty under a Train-the-Trainer programme. Faculty designated by the college will learn course content, perform practical assignments, and pass assessments similar to the students who will enrol for the cybersecurity courses. K7 Academy will
Guest Lectures
Faculty and students will receive lectures from personnel authorised by K7 Academy on advancements in cybersecurity and the evolution of the threat landscape.
Student Contribution to K7 Products
Students who acquire the required qualifications can gain industry experience by contributing to K7’s threat analysis and detection data creation, assisting in the protection of millions of computing users around the world.
Opportunities for Colleges
The K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme provides opportunities for colleges to
Opportunities for Students
Students who complete the K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme will be able to access opportunities in
Students will be able to attract the attention of potential employers as they will possess
K7 Academy provides cybersecurity training to Indian and international students, and in colleges and the enterprise sector. Contact Us for more information on how we can help your institution offer industry-aligned academic programmes, with an emphasis on malware research, that enable your students to access lucrative opportunities in the fast-growing cybersecurity industry.
A report by Gartner provides insight on the human factor in cybersecurity: by 2025 a) Nearly half of cybersecurity leaders will change jobs, 25% for different roles entirely due to stress, and b) Lack of talent or human failure will be responsible for over half of significant cyber incidents.
Being a cybersecurity practitioner is undoubtedly stressful due to the hundreds of thousands of new cyberthreats that are created every day; a cyber defender has to be effective against every single attack, but it takes just one successful attack to disrupt operations. This stress is compounded by cybersecurity being added as a layer on top of operations rather than baked into operations, as the cybersecurity team is made responsible for security outcomes that result from the actions and decisions of many others. Cybersecurity as a separate layer is not a sustainable way to ensure long-term safety as Gartner’s report also reveals that lack of talent and human failure will contribute to a significant portion of cyberattacks. Businesses must resolve both these issues, and the solution to both lies in cybersecurity training.
Why Is Cybersecurity Training The Solution?
The common thread that links both the statistics quoted at the beginning is the lack of sufficient cybersecurity talent. Cybersecurity talent can manifest both as a) cybersecurity specialists with in-depth expertise in defending against cyberattacks, and b) cybersecurity awareness amongst business users.
Cybersecurity Specialists
Creating a strong team of cybersecurity specialists will reduce stress on cybersecurity leaders who will be able to focus on long-term strategic cybersecurity initiatives rather than managing routine cybersecurity tasks. The obvious solution here is to hire a team of specialists with the required expertise, but the cybersecurity industry is experiencing a severe talent deficit that is unlikely to end soon and enterprises struggle to identify, recruit, and retain the necessary talent. Cybersecurity training that is designed to develop advanced threat hunting and attack prevention skills enables the enterprise to create a cybersecurity team from the existing, in-house IT team. This is often quicker than attempting to recruit specialists, develops the specific cybersecurity skills that are required by the enterprise, and creates greater employee commitment as they benefit from skill enhancement and superior career progression.
Business Users
Business users, the non-IT employees of the organisation, are responsible for most utilisation of computing resources and the design and execution of business processes. Cybersecurity training that emphasises the fundamentals of cyber hygiene can help employees flag suspicious events and behaviour and facilitate creating business processes that integrate cybersecurity at the design stage to reduce opportunities for threat actors to compromise the enterprise. Phishing attacks that target the user are responsible for 91% of cyberattacks and cybersecurity training for business users can help in defending against such attacks that rely on social engineering rather than attacking a device or network.
Cybersecurity Training from K7 Academy
K7 Academy is a unit of K7 Computing, a global leader in cybersecurity with over 30 years’ expertise in the industry. The academy draws on K7 Computing’s experience and insight, gained from protecting 25+ million users across 27 countries and operating K7 Labs which analyses hundreds of thousands of threat samples every day, to design training programmes that quickly create the expertise required to defend against real-world enterprise cyberattacks. Our training programmes can be customised to meet the needs of specific enterprise audiences, such as C-suite training to create awareness and build defences against whaling and similar attacks that target senior management, prevent brand erosion, and aid in the development of effective cybersecurity strategies.
Corporate Cybersecurity Training
K7 Academy’s training for the corporate sector includes
How Cybersecurity Training Benefits Enterprises
K7 Academy’s cybersecurity training provides various benefits appropriate to the stakeholder segment:
Contact Us to learn more about our training programmes and how we can help you prevent destructive cyberattacks in your organisation through a strategy or relevant and proactive cybersecurity training.
The march of digitalisation is relentless. Every individual, organisation, and society is undergoing digital transformation. Many, even most, of us are already leading digital-first lives. India registered more than 88 billion digital transactions in FY 2021-22, a number that will increase substantially in 2022-23. Work, education, entertainment, shopping, and socialising are all transitioning to digital channels and delivery mechanisms.
Cybersecurity Talent Deficit – An Opportunity for the Ambitious
The growth in digital activity has been accompanied by growth in digital attacks. AV-TEST registers over 450,000 new cyberthreats every day. Businesses are trying to build cybersecurity teams to counter these cyberattacks but are hamstrung by the growing talent deficit in cybersecurity. India is projected to have a shortage of 1.5 million skilled cybersecurity candidates by 2025; that number expands to 3.5 million across the world.
The accelerating need for cybersecurity specialists coupled with the growing talent deficit creates lucrative opportunities for ambitious students who are willing to add industry-recognised cybersecurity qualifications to their resume.
Creating Cybersecurity Facilities in Colleges
Accessing cybersecurity opportunities requires development of cybersecurity skills that focus on threat research, as all cyber incidents need to be investigated and analysed before they can be resolved. Cybersecurity solution vendors also prefer to recruit candidates who are familiar with malware research.
Universities and colleges that wish to develop in-demand skills in their students should, therefore, offer
Both of these will require industry partnership to ensure that students acquire job-oriented skills and industry-recognised certifications.
K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme
The K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme functions as a partnership between K7 and an educational institute to combine the malware research credentials of K7 with the academic credentials and access to students enjoyed by the institution, with the goal of providing career-building training in malware research with world-class facilities and infrastructure for students to practise and hone their skills.
Courses
Programme USPs
Programme Components
The K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme comprises
Programme Benefits
The K7 Malware Analysis Training Programme, integrating research programmes with malware research facilities, offers several benefits to both the institution and the student.
Benefits to Colleges
Benefits to Students
K7 Academy’s training programmes are designed based on K7 Computing’s 30+ years of expertise in cybersecurity. Contact Us to learn more about how we can help your college offer job-aligned malware analysis training to your students.