Why Choose Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering Program?

The years 2020 and 2021 will go down in history as the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. What didn’t make the news, but will also affect many lives in the long run, is what Security magazine calls the “cybercrime pandemic”. 

According to the magazine, the US Federal Trade Commission received 1.4 million reports of identity theft in 2020, double the previous year. Google also registered 2,145,013 phishing sites as of January 2021, which is a significant jump from 1,690,000 in the same period the previous year. This translates to a 27 percent increase over 12 months.

Naturally, the rising number of cybercrimes has led to increasing demand for trained cybersecurity specialists. The US Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported the employment of information security analysts is projected to grow 33 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average across all other occupations.

If you want to take advantage of this growth, Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering program can help get you started.

Why Choose a Cybersecurity Career?

The cybersecurity field is full of diverse career opportunities. A typical cybersecurity career can begin in a security analyst role and move on to becoming a senior security analyst, a member of an incident report (IR) team, or a security consultant. Other roles include cybersecurity engineer, penetration tester, information security officer, security architect, and security engineer. 

Beyond this wide room for career growth, cybersecurity also boasts a positive job outlook. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, there will be 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs available globally by the end of the year, largely caused by the rapid growth of technology. 

Currently, a wide range of cybersecurity roles is available in almost all industries. Most major industries require cybersecurity professionals, specifically healthcare, government, and financial services. Everything from medical information to personal finance records is vulnerable to identity theft and other forms of criminal activity. 

Because of the increasing threat of cybercrime, industries need to prepare themselves for a cyber attack sooner or later, and this opens up numerous career opportunities for people interested in getting into cybersecurity.

If you want to be on the receiving end of these opportunities, Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering Program can help you get there.

Reviewing Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering Program

Flatiron School offers a Cybersecurity Engineering Program with a robust curriculum that teaches technical, strategic, and analytical skills essential to launching a successful cybersecurity career.  

Prerequisites

Before attending the program, applicants should have a working knowledge of programming languages and familiarity with Windows, Linux, and Unix operating systems. Learners who are

are detail-oriented and possess creative problem-solving skills will likely do well in the course.

Schedule

Depending on what works best for them, students can choose between a full-time (15 weeks) or flex (20, 40, or 60 weeks) schedule. Full-time students follow a regular and rigorous 9-to-5 schedule from Monday through Friday. 

On the other hand, flex students have the freedom to set their own schedules and study at their pace. They work independently on course requirements and can sign up for optional study groups as well as sit through one-on-one sessions with an instructor. 

Cost

The program tuition fee is $16,900. Flatiron School offers three different payment plans that students can choose from, depending on what fits their circumstances best. 

Curriculum

The Cybersecurity Engineering Program curriculum is comprehensive and builds a stable cybersecurity foundation in each student. The course covers the following areas:

• Network Security

Students focus on the core ideas in network security and review basic network protocols such as Ethernet, UDP, TCP, and ARP. They also learn the different types of attacks on these technologies. 

• System Security

This area focuses on system architecture, operating system architecture, and system exploits. Students learn basic Cloud security and migration considerations and Android iOS security.

• Python

Students explore basic Python scripting techniques and applications to cybersecurity.

• Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC)

Students learn how to implement GRC programs and establish efficient and effective information security programs.

• Logs and Detection

Students analyze logs in various network devices. They explore logs and learn how to capture data for analysis using a System Information and Events Manager (SIEM).

• Threat Intelligence

The course equips students with the analytical and planning skills needed to conduct effective cyber threat intelligence.

• Application Security

This area looks at core ideas in PenTesting and application security. Students learn about Metasploit and other Kali Linux pen-testing tools. They also learn to use attach tools to mount attacks against different kinds of networks.

• Applied Cryptography

There are two goals in this area. The first is to provide a solid theoretical foundation in the principles of modern cryptography. The second is to highlight recent major cryptographic attacks and learn how to execute those types of attacks and, more importantly, defend against them. 

Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering Program prepares its students to take on entry-level security engineer, security analyst, and security consultant roles. These are the first steps toward an exciting and fulfilling cybersecurity career.

How to Succeed in Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering Program

Alsayyed Hussain, an instructor of the Cybersecurity Engineering Program at Flatiron School, shared important insights and advice for people interested in taking the program.

First, you don’t need a technical or IT background to enter the cybersecurity industry. There’s a widespread misconception that programming experience is necessary to work in this field. Although it can be helpful, a student does not need to know how to program. Alsayyed attested to this, sharing that he never had to program one line of code in all his professional roles in the past, including cybersecurity analyst and cyber threat intelligence consultant. 

Instead, a cybersecurity student should possess four things. 

First, a student should demonstrate the desire to learn. “You do have to be passionate about the field. You have to be dedicated to continuous learning because the cybersecurity field is constantly evolving. It’s very important that you’re not coming in thinking that you take one course and you know everything you need to know. You will have to continuously learn and grow,” he said.

As long as the student is eager to learn, they will do well in the cybersecurity program. To cater to students’ different learning styles, Flatiron School combines multiple teaching methods. 

“You will have to do a lot of reading, watch videos, and research on your own. But then you’ll also get to work on things in labs, build things on your own. [You’ll] get to carry out certain things, which is also a huge part of the learning process,” he furthered.

Second, Alsayyed said learners must have two critical soft skills: good communication and collaboration skills. 

“You’re not just going to be working on your own, on your laptop or your machine, just sitting there doing your own thing. You absolutely have to be a really strong teammate and do well in group environments. You will also be working on things independently, but communication, collaboration, and teamwork are going to be heavily critical in any security role,” Alsayyed emphasized.

Third, students must be good problem-solvers. Alsayyed said that troubleshooting is one of the biggest challenges students face both in the program and in a real-world working environment. “There’s going to be a lot of bugs, and there’s going to be certain things you don’t know that you have to figure out. A big challenge for students is knowing how to troubleshoot. How do they figure out the answer?” he said.

Alsayyed said that students learn this skill while in the program as they learn how to put together their resources to fix bugs and issues more efficiently. 

“In the beginning, it takes a lot of time because you don’t know where to go to find answers,”  he continued. Over time, you get really good at it. You’re able to troubleshoot and get fewer issues, fewer bugs, and fewer problems and errors. You’re learning how to mitigate that before they even get them.”

Lastly, students must have a strong grasp of network security and systems as well as the different domains of cybersecurity. Knowing these will help them decide on their career path. 

The various domains include penetration testing, vulnerability management, cyber threat intelligence, and secure software development. All of these are part of cybersecurity but require unique skillsets and responsibilities.

“I would also say that having a good understanding of what the security risks are to organizations [is important]… [B]eing on the cybersecurity team, you have to understand what the risks and potential threats are to various organizations and different industries. 

“[Another concept] is an understanding of different security controls and frameworks. That’s also extremely important. Your career, whichever way you want to go in security, will have to work with security protocols, frameworks, standards controls,” he ended.

Is Cybersecurity Right for Me?

If you have a passion for learning, collaborate well with other people, and are detail-oriented, you will fit well in a cybersecurity role. It is a field that continues to grow rapidly, and with this, the need for qualified specialists is increasing quickly as well.

If you’re interested in starting a cybersecurity career in roles like security engineer, security analyst, and security consultant, Flatiron School’s Cybersecurity Engineering program can help jumpstart your journey.

To learn more about the program and how it can help launch your cybersecurity career, schedule a chat with Flatiron School’s Admissions team. You can also attend an upcoming event or start your application today.