Every business owner knows how important it is to protect their company’s sensitive information. And still, nearly 60% of small-to-medium businesses suffered a cyberattack in 2023.
To make matters worse, this year, hackers are armed with the power of AI, thus making their malicious strategies a lot more effective.
The consequences of a security breach can go from mild to threatening the future of the business:
- Stolen data;
- Financial loss;
- Reputational damage;
- And so on.
It’s crucial to realize how important it is to hire an expert in cybersecurity. They know how to handle complex new threats without harming the company.
Let’s explore why this professional can give you an edge over your competition and what other benefits hiring a cybersecurity engineer brings to the table.
What Does A Cybersecurity Engineer Do?
In a nutshell, this kind of professional is responsible for the following:
- Designing and managing the practices and systems that keep the business safe from digital criminals.
- Learning about the latest encryption techniques, anti-malware systems, and network safety in general.
- Implementing the best cybersecurity practices. Other employees can be educated on this as well.
- Detecting every vulnerable part of a digital system and responding accordingly.
- Installing various cybersecurity software that is aimed to protect your systems. For instance, a VPN application download can help and have it installed in seconds, thus protecting your connection from phishing scams and malicious software.
With a cybersecurity engineer on your team, you’re investing in the safety of your business in the digital realm.
How Can A Cybersecurity Engineer Help Save The Company’s Data?
Here’s how a cybersecurity engineer can help save your company’s sensitive information.
Securing your company’s sensitive information
This professional is capable of installing a strong security system that protects sensitive information and doesn’t allow hackers to access it. They know about encryption protocols, catching intruders online, and different firewalls. They have to frequently monitor all these things, to ensure that they work properly against the latest digital threats.
For example, if your business stores data from customers (this includes personal and, most importantly, financial information), a cybersecurity engineer might keep it safe from thieves. Remember that, in the digital world, information such as this can be sold.
Protecting the company against cyberattacks
The engineer plays a fundamental role when it comes to assessing damage and learning from security breaches. They have the power to restore things to their original state. They can detect and prevent different incidents, isolate infected software, and put in place a good emergency plan.
Imagine if your company fell for a threat like a “Distributed Denial of Service,” aka DDoS. This will cause your website to go offline. The engineer will identify this kind of attack quickly and work on the solution with the IT team. They will fix it in less time than it would take if you didn’t have an expert on your business.
Training staff on online safety
Cybersecurity goes way beyond technical knowledge. Every company should encourage an awareness of how to stay secure while navigating the internet. A cybersecurity expert can train others and educate the staff about the best practices to avoid falling for different scams.
They can test the employees’ knowledge about common threats, conducting simulations and helping them learn to identify threats and weird emails. This way, the company has another human “layer of protection.”
Pros And Cons Of Hiring A Cybersecurity Engineer
To give you a clearer idea, consider the benefits and disadvantages of hiring an expert in the digital security field.
| PROS | CONS |
| Better security online | Financial expenses, an investment |
| 24/7 digital monitoring | Recruiting and training a new employee |
| Threat management and safe data | Continous maintenance |
Having a good professional in the company means the results will be evident in no time.
When deciding whether or not you need to hire a cybersecurity professional, it’s crucial to determine the needs and priorities of your business.
If you plan to expand your business, it’s better to invest in proper cybersecurity from the start.
How to pick the right cybersecurity engineer for your business
When it comes to having the best cybersecurity protocols in place, it’s important to select the right expert who shares the goals and values of your company. If you want to hire someone successfully, follow these tips:
- Check their certifications: the candidates should have some sort of formal education. This can include credentials like: “Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP)”, or “Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). This shows that they understand their field.
- Consider their previous experience: ask them questions about their last jobs and how they managed threats and other attacks. Make sure to also bring up the topic of security measures and what they’ve done when implementing these systems.
- Ask them about their knowledge: a good cybersecurity engineer has to stay on top of the latest trends and software that can make their job easier. Simply put, cyber threats evolve every day, and they have to be informed about it.
- Evaluate their problem-solving skills: they have to be able to analyze complex issues and then make strategic decisions and find solutions for them.
- Don’t forget about their communication abilities: in this kind of area, communication between the team members and other teams of the company has to be quick and effective. This is vital when it comes to identifying threats quickly.
- Consider how they align with the company’s culture: hire someone who has similar goals and aligns themselves with the values and work ethic of your business.
If you think over these factors before hiring someone, you will have a greater chance at success after finding the best possible candidate for what you need.
To sum up
Dealing with a digital world that grows every day is not easy. This is why it’s essential to make one strategic choice: hiring a cybersecurity engineer.
This should be considered an investment, not an expense. These experts can prevent information from leaking into the hands of criminals. Most importantly, they can teach others how to prevent an attack from happening at all.
While hiring someone always requires a great deal of thought and strategy, the benefits will quickly be evident. Protecting your business from cyberthreats has become one of the priorities in 2023.
