Cyber Security Specialist / Technician
What Does a Professional in this Career Do?
A Cyber Security Specialist or Technician works on monitoring, controlling, and maintaining systems that protect the security of large databases, including databases with customer information and patient files. May work on examination of client computer systems, identification of weak points in security, development and implementation of new systems, and monitoring and response to security issues.
Job Outlook
There were 214 Cyber Security Specialist / Technician job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 6555 in the United States.
In combination with other careers in the Cyber / Information Security Engineer / Analyst industry, which includes the Cyber Security Specialist / Technician career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2016:
Salary
Many new Cyber Security Specialist / Technician jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.
National
The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $123,606.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $132,453.
Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Cyber Security Specialist / Technician postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $105,470.
Education and Experience
Posted Cyber Security Specialist / Technician jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.
| Education Level | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Associate's Degree | 0% |
| Bachelor's Degree | 62.44% |
| Master's Degree | 14.31% |
| Doctoral Degree | 2.62% |
| Other | 10.5% |
Posted Cyber Security Specialist / Technician jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.
| Years of Experience | Percentage |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 years | 17.61% |
| 3 to 5 years | 48.46% |
| 6 to 8 years | 19.87% |
| 9+ years | 14.06% |
Skills
Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Cyber Security Specialist / Technician positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.
Baseline Skills
A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.
- Communication (42.43%)
- Management (37.77%)
- Information Technology (34.77%)
- Problem Solving (26.16%)
- Operations (25.98%)
- Security Policies (21.16%)
- Leadership (18.06%)
- Detail Oriented (17.67%)
- Research (15.19%)
- Governance (13.36%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Vulnerability (0.06%)
- Incident Response (25.43%)
- Cyber Security (71.25%)
- Computer Science (35.7%)
- Information Systems (27.2%)
- Auditing (30.61%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Security Risk (8.31%)
- Security Solutions (8.8%)
- Security Tools (15.95%)
- Industry Standards (5.7%)
- IT Security (17.01%)
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (3.61%)
- Scripting (6.9%)
- Mitigation (11.55%)
- Authorization (Computing) (10.25%)
- Security Systems (9.15%)
- Vulnerability Assessments (10.95%)
- Vulnerability Management (19.94%)
- Security Management (3.64%)
- Security Requirements Analysis (12.42%)
- Security Information And Event Management (SIEM) (10.76%)
- Risk Analysis (20.94%)
- Risk Management Framework (14.88%)
- Windows PowerShell (6.09%)
- Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (3.26%)
- Vulnerability Scanning (9.87%)
- Network Protocols (8.36%)
- Risk Management (18.75%)
- Project Management (10.71%)
- Python (Programming Language) (7.75%)
- Network Security (14.08%)
- ISO/IEC 27001 (8.26%)
- Identity And Access Management (7.01%)
- Incident Management (3.88%)
- Information Assurance (15.19%)
- Standard Operating Procedure (9.35%)
- Financial Services (2.06%)
- Firewall (15.94%)
- Encryption (8.26%)
- Linux (10.16%)
- System Administration (7.53%)
- Operating Systems (12.45%)
- Regulatory Compliance (4.76%)
- Continuous Improvement Process (2.33%)
- Security Controls (28.34%)
- Cloud Security (8.74%)
- Control Objectives For Information And Related Technology (COBIT) (3.75%)
- Dashboard (3.29%)
- Automation (9.99%)
- Information Systems Security (10.35%)
- Microsoft Azure (7.52%)
- Amazon Web Services (7.69%)
- Penetration Testing (8.09%)
- Application Security (6%)
- IT Security Architecture (7.37%)
- Access Controls (9.19%)
- Cyber Threat Hunting (9.67%)
- Risk Mitigation (8.1%)
- Cyber Risk (4.42%)
- NIST 800-53 (8.61%)
- Threat Detection (6.99%)
- Cyber Threat Intelligence (18.04%)
- Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service (eMASS) (9.19%)
- Endpoint Detection And Response (4.62%)
- Plan Of Action And Milestones (POA&M) (10.79%)
Distinguishing Skills
A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.
- MITRE ATT&CK Framework (7.49%)
Salary Boosting Skills
A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.
- MITRE ATT&CK Framework (14.93%)
- Auditing (61.05%)
- Incident Response (50.73%)
Alternative Job Titles
Sometimes employers post jobs with Cyber Security Specialist / Technician skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:
- Cybersecurity Specialist
- Information Security Specialist
- Cyber Threat Hunter
- Security Specialist
- IT Information Security Specialist
- Information Systems Security Specialist
- Security Control Assessor
- Personnel Security Specialist
- Information Security Engineer
- Information Security Risk Manager
Similar Occupations
If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.
- Cyber Security Manager / Administrator
- Cyber Security Architect
- Cyber Security Engineer
- Vulnerability Analyst / Penetration Tester
- Incident Analyst / Responder
Common Employers
Here are the employers that have posted the most Cyber Security Specialist / Technician jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.
United States
- GAF Materials Corporation (307)
- Booz Allen Hamilton (167)
- GovCIO (162)
- Leidos (113)
- Bank of America (101)
- L3Harris Technologies (85)
- TD Bank (83)
- Deloitte (66)
- CACI International (59)
- Eliassen Group (54)
North Carolina
- TD Bank (27)
- GAF Materials Corporation (10)
- Bank of America (9)
- US Bank (6)
- Zachary Piper Solutions (6)
- Innova Solutions USA (5)
- Ihire (4)
- Motion Recruitment (4)
- Wells Fargo (4)
- Computer World Services Corp. (Cws) (4)
NC State Programs Relevant to this Career
If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!
All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.