The advance of technology nowadays has no limits. The growing connectivity of all types of devices and the digitization of information make cybersecurity an increasingly present concern in the business world, as well as in state policies.
Hackers are in the news for their meddling in security agencies around the world, but what few people know is that there are hundreds, if not thousands, who do the same work for these institutions whose security has been violated. Professionals, as well as self-taught, have found in this profession a way of life that is undoubtedly one of the best paid in the market, thus becoming the main guardians of Internet crimes.
A recent report by Infoempleo and Deloitte places ethical hackers as the best paid profile in the IT sector, with salaries of between 75,000 and 115,000 euros gross per year on the European continent. This detailed research ensures that by 2020, companies will offer 9.3% more vacancies linked to digital profiles.
But this trend is not only present in Europe, there are self-taught specialists in Argentina who are precursors of such specialized jobs, such as Matías Katz, a cybersecurity expert who discovered at a very young age that IT was his thing. Katz detailed the importance of this role for both private and state-owned companies.
"This is the same thing, knowing all the possible ways something can be attacked or broken, he is the right person to recommend how to protect you, we have to understand how things break, once you understand that, you understand how to protect yourself," Katz said.
The process seems to be quite simple, companies express their concern about the security of their own system, which leads them to consult specialists such as Matías so that through a detailed diagnosis, he can show the possible vulnerability and flaws; not so different from any type of advice, whether it is marketing or institutional communication. His only complication and differentiation with these disciplines is the high cost of the service. This vast knowledge is directly related to good economic income.
Katz commented that his clients are large corporations, banks, airlines, stock exchanges and government entities: "It is a service that is quite expensive, it is charged at triple the rate of a developer's hour, that is, what it costs you to build a system, to what it costs you to test the security of that system, it costs you triple".
One of Telefónica's headquarters in Spain last year appointed hacker Chema Alonso as Chief data officer, another example of the new jobs that are opening up in different companies in order to counteract these attacks, which are harmful to any forward-looking business. There are specialists worldwide who dedicate their lives to this fascinating profession, as is the case of Javier Rodriguez, who for 10 years was a member of the Telematic Crimes Group of the Civil Guard and currently works at the cybersecurity consulting firm Tarlogic.
The professional detailed how the daily operation and understanding of an ethical hacker involves a constant updating of information. Being up to date is the key to success in this professional field:
"To test the security of a web application, the ethical hacker will first collect as much information as possible about that system to subsequently launch the corresponding attacks, trying to break the security of the system," Rodriguez told eter.co.
Argentine professionals are not left behind in this development, and even an outstanding group in this area won first place in the 2016 Cybersecurity and Data Mining Competition (CDMC2016), a competition organized by Kyoto University in Japan, in which they beat 42 teams from 14 countries, including Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, Australia and the United States.
Understanding and analyzing this problem not only helps institutions to avoid fraudulent attacks, but also becomes an inexhaustible source of work that allows those passionate about the cyber world to develop their skills and desire to learn with a large and sufficient economic income with only the collaboration and advice to prevent crime and fraud worldwide.
