Sarah Gilchriest, Chief People Officer of Workforce Learning, the group encompassing QA, Circus Street and Cloud Academy, explores the benefits of a career in cyber security and the top tips on how start your journey in this industryCyber security has become one of the most important aspects of any business or government organisation. The world is becoming increasingly digital, meaning that more and more sensitive information is kept on devices or in the cloud. Businesses need to protect that data, and that’s where good cyber security comes in. What’s more, Covid-19 and the invasion of Ukraine have put cyber security threats and attacks to the forefront of everyone’s mind. A sudden mass-shift to remote working during the pandemic, and now hybrid working has created gaps that enable bad actors to gain access to that sensitive information.The UK Government’s Cyber Security Braches Survey 2023 found that there were “approximately 2.39 million instances of cyber crime and approximately 49,000 instances of fraud as a result of cyber crime in the last 12 months” across all UK businesses. At the same time there is a gap of 3.4 million cyber security workers worldwide, according to research by the International Information System Security Certification Consortium.So, if you’re interested in a career in cyber security, this is a good time to get in as demand is quite high. But how and where do you start?The good news is that anyone can start a career in cyber security, and develop key skills such as software development, threat detection or incident response. Let’s look at the key reasons to explore a career in this sector.Why start a career in cyber security?It is important to know that while salaries can range significantly from job to job, there is more and more demand for cyber security specialists. According to John McAfee, founder of Future Tense Central and CEO at MGT Capital Investments, “The field of cyber security is the least populated of any field of technology. There are two job openings for every qualified candidate.”Employers are struggling to find enough qualified individuals to fill the demand created by cybercrime. Gary Hayslip, author of the book ‘CISO Desk Reference Guide, A practical guide for CISOs’, says that organisations “are trying to hire a unicorn​ –​ i.e., they need three people but can only hire one. So, they write the job specs with a huge list of ​disparate skill​ ​sets that most security professionals don’t have.” This then leads to a skills gap that can work in the favour of new cyber security graduates, giving them a way into an ever-growing professional field.Job securityAlongside the skill gap, cyber professionals can expect a modicum of job security simply by filling their roles. The demand for their job is so high that you are unlikely to be made redundant.A word of warning, though. Cyber professionals have about a 20% turnover rate in most companies because of burnout caused by trying to compensate for the skills gap. Employers who expect too much from their limited cyber security team will be met with pushback, and with the amount of demand for cyber security professionals, the hiring market is skewed in favour of applicants.Variety of rolesAs you have seen, there are a variety of roles that fall under the cyber security umbrella. With such abundance, the odds of finding a niche that suits your interests are very high. In cyber security, bored is not a word that will be present in your vocabulary.Security professionals also get the chance to work on a huge scope of technologies. This is an attribute that, while not exclusive to cyber security roles, is one of their draw points. Cyber security is used in everything from robotics or car production to website security for both small and large organisations. If there is an online element, cyber security has a foothold there.Since there is such a wide array of applications for cyber security, it follows that there is a wide array of ways to train for...