Becoming a Security Analyst: Requirements, Responsibilities, Salaries

Cybersecurity is a challenge that every enterprise needs to address. With the increased frequency of highly sophisticated attacks, businesses have had to turn to security experts who can leverage best practices and better secure the company’s digital assets.

This scenario has led to an explosion in demand for security analysts. These professionals mitigate risk by continuously examining enterprise IT infrastructure to identify potential security exposures and vulnerabilities.

What Is a Security Analyst?

A security analyst plays a vital role in preserving the security and integrity of an organization’s data. To achieve this, security analysts must know everything about information security within the company and work across departments to identify and correct flaws in business security systems.

They are also charged with improving the company’s overall security posture. They do this by analyzing each security measure employed by the company to determine how effective they are.

Once identified, they have to work closely with administrators and IT professionals and recommend changes that can improve every aspect of the company’s security. Security analysts also have to conduct employee training workshops and create documentation that can assist response efforts during an active data breach.

In recent years, with the rapid expansion of the cybersecurity landscape, the role has been split into three different types of security analyst jobs:

Application Security Analyst Data Security Analyst Security Compliance Analyst

As you can see from the above, the roles and responsibilities of security analysts are becoming more specific. For example, application security analysts focus on web applications, data security analysts concentrate on data, while security compliance analysts focus on regulation.

Although there is considerable overlap between these security roles, there are also some differences that make each position stand out on its own.

Application Security Analyst

An application security analyst (or a systems security analyst) is responsible for examining security systems and web applications by scanning them against known vulnerabilities and attacks.

These security professionals will leverage their skills and knowledge in web application security (like scanning and penetration testing ) to actively identify and fix vulnerabilities. By regularly engaging in this activity, they help protect enterprise data from unauthorized modification or loss.

Education and Experience Requirements

Many employers prefer application security analyst candidates who hold at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, mathematics, or another computer-related field.

However, if you have considerable security experience, work history, and knowledge that’s backed up by some online courses or a cybsersecuritybootcamp , you can land an entry-level application security analyst job without a college degree.

Candidates who are hoping to enter this field need to be highly competent in threat detection, threat analysis and protection, OWASP security standards, glassbox scanning, broken authentication, cross-site scripting, and cross-site request forgery.

Potential candidates should also have some basic knowledge in web development, HTML, HTTP, and application security.

It can also be advantageous if candidates have participated in bug bounties sponsored by large companies such as Amazon, Facebook, and Google. These events can provide much needed real-world experience, and as a bonus, you also get paid for discovering vulnerabilities.

Salary Potential

According to Salary.com, application security analysts with a bachelor’s degree can command an annual median salary of $71,057 to $77,203 . Candidates with a master’s degree or MBA can expect to be paid an annual median salary of $71,864 to $78,096 . Those who possess a Ph.D. report an annual median salary of $72,187 to $78,453 .

From the above, it’s safe to conclude that there’s not much difference when it comes to compensation and qualifications. However, if you look at Glassdoor’s overall national average, these days application security analysts can make as much as $91,015 per year .

Data Security Analyst

Data security analysts (or information security analysts) work across a wide range of industries including consulting, depository credit intermediation, and computer systems design. Their primary responsibility is to keep the information stored on computers and enterprise networks secure.

Data security analysts also have to ensure that sensitive data isn’t modified inadvertently. They are often tasked with the design, implementation, and enforcement of security policies as well as regular maintenance.

Those working in this field are also responsible for creating procedures for data access, backup, and protection. So whenever there’s a security violation, they will review and make changes to prevent future incursions.

Whenever the data is compromised, they will also be tasked with repairing the damage and eliminating the vulnerability that led to a breach.

These security professionals typically work under the supervision of an information technology manager. Although they are often expected only to work full-time business hours, some data security analysts are also asked to be on call outside of regular business hours.

Some other responsibilities include the installation and maintenance of security software , cybersecurity training, and keeping the network secure from a data breach.

As security threats grow, data or information security analysts will be expected to compile data for cyber forensics following a breach. Some additional responsibilities may include coding, system analysis, and telecommunications.

Education and Experience Requirements Data security analysts are generally required to hold at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science, software engineering, information assurance, or a related field. However, many companies prefer candidates who hold a maste