6 Highest-Paid Cyber Security Jobs & Salaries

We’ll provide you with the salary insights and candidates you need to elevate your cybersecurity strategies. For a complete breakdown of the top 10 cybersecurity salaries, download our 2022 Salary Guide across Tech, Creative & Digital Marketing. You know if you are being paid fairly as a Cyber Security Specialist if your pay is close to the average pay for the state you live in.

SummaryThe salary range for this position is $140k-$170k.The Information Technology Specialist shall be responsible for … Designated by the Department of Homeland Security and National Security Agency as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE), NEIT is ideal for learning the nuances of cyber security. According to a Forbes article, a survey revealed that 74% of companiesblame this skill gap for their inability to secure sensitive information, leading to data breaches and compliance issues. A majority (58%) of company CISOs believe that this gap will continue to worsen in 2022.

Average Total Cash Compensation

They are also the person responsible for everything from implementing security to enforcing policies to recovering from incidents. Their roles are many and varied, so the skills they need is equally varied. Penetration testers, also known as red teams or penetration engineers, are the security employees tasked with attempting to breach a system, probing for vulnerabilities using how to become a security specialist known hacking tools. They are some of the most aggressive security specialists, and often have a lot of crossover with ethical hackers. Penetration testers are also considered a subset of quality assurance in some companies. Pen testers can do everything from running common tools to scan for vulnerabilities to engineering custom attacks against specific infrastructures.

However, a bachelor’s degree may keep a technician from advancing within an organization. Security code auditor — A security code auditor analyzes code to check for potential vulnerabilities. An auditor typically has extensive experience in programming and network infrastructure, and this is not an entry level position.

How do I increase my salary as a cybersecurity specialist?

In many countries, an annual pay raise is often given to employees to reward their service with a salary increase. In the modern age, we know that there should never be a pay gap between men and women. Unfortunately, in many professions, there is still a significant difference between the salaries earned by men when compared to the salary of women in the same job.

Information Security Managers top the list of highest-paid cybersecurity jobs with an average salary range of $150,000 to $225,000. According to our 2022 Tech Salary Guide, let’s look at the six highest-paid cybersecurity jobs and their average cybersecurity salary ranges, so you have the salary insights you need to hire the expert talent you need. The need for more cyber security professionals is a trend that is quickly becoming apparent as businesses become more reliant on technology. As more and more data is stored online, it becomes a target for hackers who are looking to steal information or disrupt operations. Directors of cybersecurity are managers and team leaders who are responsible for all things cybersecurity, and often physical and operational security, within an organization. The average salary for a director is low, but the sky is the limit for security directors at large companies. They need experience and knowledge, as well as resources and the ability to manage a team.

Years of Experience

IBM’s annualCost of a Data Breach studyrevealed a single data breach can cost a company up to$3.29 million, a 12 percent increase from the cost of breaches from the previous year. The best-paid 10 percent make $161,000, while the lowest-paid 10 percent make $112,000. Once you gather enough experience and reach senior status at one of these conglomerates, your yearly salary will be higher than in other companies. Not to mention that some of them, such as Google, also offer their employees shares of the company that you can cash in whenever you want. Traditionally, network operations and IT professionals and teams handled core technology functions.

Security specialists with less experience earn lower average salaries than professionals with longer tenure in the field. Overall demand for information technology workers will continue to grow as companies increasingly rely on data and technology. Individual job outlook varies by profession; demand for more specialized jobs, like cybersecurity analysts, is expected to grow significantly, while other jobs are vulnerable to outsourcing. IT jobs, which are particularly well-suited for remote work, usually require higher education or certifications and offer higher than average salaries. Among the many cybersecurity jobs that companies are hiring for across all industries is the position of cybersecurity specialist. Like many roles within the wide-ranging, fast-growing field of cybersecurity, the responsibilities of the cybersecurity specialist can vary greatly depending on the company or organization and its specific needs.

An analytics and data science background can help cyber security engineers advance to higher positions. Cyber Security Specialists are responsible for providing security for an organization’s overall IT systems. They search for vulnerabilities in software, hardware, networks, and data centers and design strategies and defensive systems to protect against attacks and threats. Cyber security specialists are in demand with a continued growth projection and a robust salary. This profession will continue to evolve as technology advances and as new security concerns continue to develop.

However, security professionals should also consider cost of living and quality of life in these areas when applying for jobs. Other factors spurring demand for cybersecurity professionals include the increasing use of cloud services and electronic medical records. Cyber Seek reported over 500,000 cybersecurity job openings across U.S. industries as of January 2022. According to Payscale data from January 2022, security specialists with less than one year of experience earn $56,230 per year on average. The most experienced security specialists — workers with more than 20 years on the job — earned an average salary of $92,990. Instead, we use BLS data from information security analysts, whose jobs are similar.