Cybersecurity - The new age career option for students
Q& A
Covid-19 Pandemic has impacted the education sector massively and has resulted in chaos among the students. There is uncertainty and confusion regarding career options, availability of jobs and an overall sense of wellbeing. Mr. Sanjay Sengupta, Co-Founder and CTO, WhizHack Technologies talks with us opening up new avenues for students and arm them with skill sets that will put them on the map in the new world order.
Q1. What sort of training is available in the domain of cyber security in India and how is WhizHack changing the training culture in cyber security?
For a number of years, cyber security training was mainly based on book learning and theory, with limited practical training based on open-source tools. These type of trainings, without exposure to hands on experience on commercial tools and conceptual knowledge, do not lead to employment to good cyber security positions.
We are reshaping the cybersecurity mindset and fundamentally altering the way job seekers and employers view the market. On one hand we are providing complete knowledge skillsets that allow freshers to directly be corporate-ready for cyber defender positions and it also prevents loss of time and resources in absorbing and reskilling freshers as they join their workstream.
Q2. What is Whizhack’s range of course offerings and how can you map it to popular job market demands in the country.
WhizHack offers the first and only dual certificate program combining deep conceptual training by IIT Jodhpur faculty and hands-on expertise on Israeli labs as per global framework.
Our students are prepared to successfully qualify for positions that include Cyber Forensics Analyst, Network Operations Specialist, Cyber Analyst, Cyber Incident Responder, and Cyber Infrastructure Support Specialist. Average starting salaries are Rs. 5 lakhs per annum for freshers and Rs. 8 lakhs and above with experience
Q3. How has an association with IIT – Jodhpur strengthened the foundation of the programme that WhizHack is offering
The course not only provides strong academic mentorship by IIT Jodhpur but is also powered by Cybint, Israel in training learners on Advanced Cyber Defense techniques. The 6-month part time course and prepares students from any discipline, with or without any technical background, to enter the cyber security industry as a specialist. Among many other unique propositions, I would like to highlight that this course is not only aligned with National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), the Cybersecurity Workforce Framework in the US and the CompTIA Security+ Course that helps graduates work in different parts of the World.
Q4. Apart from formal training how can students develop themselves to face competition in an ever changing and developing field like cyber security?
Cyber Security is a very dynamic field, as you have very rightly put, also very exciting at the same time. The is a potential to achieve unmatched professional success. However, this is a field where you need to upgrade your knowledge constantly in order to keep pace with your peers and keep yourself abreast of the best practices. Tracking the latest technology and other breakthroughs must become your second nature. Since most students tend to lose the knowledge gains after training, we provide one year extended access to Israeli labs with latest commercial tools for easy hiring by top employers. You should religiously track the latest technology developments used by cyber criminals in India and abroad. It is also imperative to actively participate and contribute in cyber defense communities, have a network of strong mentors from both at industry and academic level. This should be able to give the students a head-start and constant growth that the industry demands of you.
Q5. What is the coutry’s current standing on Cyber defense professionals and what is your outlook for the industry in the next five to ten years ?
As per Michael Page, India is expected to have over 1.5 million unfulfilled job vacancies in cybersecurity by 2025, the second highest in the APAC Region after China.
According to Indeed, the average annual salary for the position of a security specialist in India is ₹889,265.
Job seekers in the age group of 25 to 29 accounted for most searches for roles in cybersecurity, followed by those in the age group of 20 to 24 and 30 to 34.
For course details contact on iitj@whizhack.com or 8447223249
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