Information Security Officer Courses

 

Information Security Officer Courses

An Information Security Officer is usually responsible for analysing cyber threats and in the implementation of security solutions preventing them from occurring again. To perform their role effectively they will need to liaise with penetration testers and vulnerability assessors and analyse their enterprises IT and cyber security infrastructure. There are many courses suitable for InfoSec officers.

They will be involved in periodic reviews of existing processes in order to make improvements too. Their work will often se them working with IT engineering, compliance, legal and operations staff too. They will recommend changes that will improve Information and Data security at their organisation, working to create new or updated procedures and documentation to this end.

The skills training required for the role of Information Security Officer will likely be achieved by studying courses either online or by attending classroom based courses. The objective of their training will be to achieve cyber security industry recognised certifications and qualification that they can apply to their job. More formal class settings will enable the student to learn alongside their peers, comparing progress as they go. All of this helps to boost their competitive spirit, resulting in then trying harder to learn the skills that they will need to know on the job.

The cyber security skills that they need include modern IT Security, Network Security and security focused system administration. Their skills normally will comprise of Network Management of Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN) and Virtual Private Networks (VPN). They made liaise with InfoSec auditors and specialist pen testing third parties too. In some organisations, liaison with IT Security related software and hardware vendors, and any others supplying IT security related services, may be requirements of their role.

To keep up to date with the latest developments in their chosen cyber security field, Security Analysts will generally be expected to participate in various related courses over time, adding to their key skill-sets as they go. They will often need to have an understanding of ISO27001, PCI-DSS, SOC 2/3 and other global security standards too in order to work effectively.

 

How to become an Information Security Officer

Should you want to become an Information Security Officer then there are many different courses to choose from. They range from basic introductory courses through mid level day to day threat analysis to Pen Testing and ultimately management level courses. Note that such courses will be necessary in addition to any BSC, degree or PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) cyber security related education you may have already gained.

As new cyber threats emerge daily, and nation state cyber actors take centre stage, up to data cyber security related knowledge is essential for career success!

 

Information Security Officer Courses

It is fair to say that we have now seen an explosion in the number of courses available for those working as Information Security Officers. We will go through some of the training options, from the basic level, through intermediate certification, to more advanced qualifications in a moment.

 

Training for an Information Security Officer

CompTIA

CompTIA is a not-for-profit IT Association. The well-regarded CompTIA enables both IT professionals and IT Channel organisations to obtain recognised IT Security qualifications. They play their part in making the world of IT a safer place for all to operate in. By operating a mix of certification programs, they have courses suitable for students at any level. CompTIA certification gives students both the IT skills to do the job and confirmation to employers of an individuals suitability for subsequent training too.

This IT Security certification program breaks down as follows:-

CompTIA Fundamentals

Here they offer training in fundamental skills necessary to work in IT Security.

CompTIA A+

Foundation skills in network and operating systems combined with security and mobile devices.

CompTIA Network+

Providing non-specific vendor neutral network skills relating to design and configuration, management and troubleshooting.

CompTIA Security+

The training needed to sit their SYO-401 examination.

CompTIA Linux+

Foundation skills required for Linux system administration covering configuration, management and troubleshooting of Linux systems.

CompTIA Server+

The planning, security and maintenance of servers and storage devices.

CompTIA Cloud+

Skills related to the maintenance and optimisation of cloud-based services. All the training needed for their CVO-002 exam.

 

Skills that an Information Security Officer needs

1) Understanding of organisations IT Systems.

Relevant security standards, different authentication protocols and security related software and hardware.

2) IT Security threat analysis and its management.

LAN (Local Area Network), WAN (Wide Area Network), Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and VPN (Virtual Private Network) knowledge. Analysing new exploits and threats, identifying their causes and helping to create fixes and apply patches.

3) Cyber Security maintenance, training and support

Maintenance and management of IT Security, producing technical documentation, support for other IT Security teams. Creating new corporate security policies, procedures and their documentation.

4) Cyber security fixes, tools, countermeasures, testing, patches and upgrades

Fixing bugs, applying patches and workarounds for Cyber Security issues, plus testing and implementations that meet overall Security objectives. Assessing Cyber security tools, performing threat countermeasures and mitigation tactics.