National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week: What Makes Working in Cybersecurity So Unique?

Week 3 of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is here and this week is all about careers! National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week is meant to highlight the opportunities and benefits of working in cybersecurity, whether as an analyst, engineer or other role. This year’s theme is “Explore. Experience. Share.” In light of that theme, we asked a few members of the ZeroFox team to share why they chose to work in cybersecurity and what drives them each and every day. 

Protecting Customers

A career in cybersecurity means taking part in the all-important mission of protecting customers and individuals against cyber threats. In every position there is opportunity to make a difference, whether as a threat hunter working to detect early signs of data leakage on the dark web, or working in customer operations to deliver timely warning of potential security incidents. Understanding that your role has a direct impact on the security of an organization or individual is incredibly rewarding.

As Adam Darrah, Director of Threat Intelligence Services puts it, “Cybersecurity empowers and pushes me to be my very best at all times for my customers. We all have gifts, abilities, and quirks that will bless the world in meaningful ways and cybersecurity and intelligence have unlocked and unbridled the very best sides of me.” 

ZeroFox’s specific mission is to protect customers across the public attack surface - providing intelligence on threat activity and disruption of adversaries across the surface, deep and dark web. Our CEO Foster puts it best: “our goal is to empower and champion success for each ZeroFox customer.” Hear from Foster and others on what empowering and championing customer success means in the video below.

Innovation and Growth

There’s no denying that the cybersecurity industry is in hyper-growth mode. According to Gartner, worldwide spending on IT security and risk management technology is expected to grow 12.4% in 2021. While other industries have seen slower growth due to the pandemic, the need has never been greater for cybersecurity. 

As the industry grows, there’s always something new to learn. As Clara Gustafson, Chief of Staff, puts it, “I am a very curious person and there’s always more to learn about in cybersecurity. In particular, I’m fascinated by how digitally connected our lives, data, devices, money, accounts, etc are today and how much it changes week over week as new platforms and products are invented and brought to market.” 

Along with growth comes speed of innovation. As attackers become more sophisticated, the cybersecurity industry has risen to the challenge, creating innovative solutions to proactively identify and disrupt a new era of attacks. Working in the cybersecurity space means contributing to cutting-edge technology to identify hidden threats and being part of something constantly changing and evolving. 

Jason Sumpter, Senior Product Manager, shared his perspective: “I love that cybersecurity requires you to be a life-long learner and embrace change. It forces innovation to combat new evolving threat actors and allows me to play a role in protecting companies, people, and their data.”

Because of the speed of innovation and the growth of the industry as a whole, there has never been more opportunities to work in the cyber space. Whether you’ve been in cybersecurity for a long time or are just getting started, there is a place for you.

Community 

While each company has a unique focus, the universal mission of protecting customers has created a strong, tight-knit community within the cybersecurity industry. Amanda Sauve, Director of Field and Channel Marketing shared her own experience joining the industry: “Having started my professional career on the production side of events, I was simultaneously working across multiple industries. Once cybersecurity was introduced to our events portfolio, it was immediately clear that this was an industry and community I wanted to be more involved with. What first excited me about my transition to the vendor side of field marketing was that cybersecurity is an evolving industry, nothing is cookie-cutter or repetitive, which means innovation and creativity aren't going anywhere either. Now 7 years in, what I love most about the industry is the community that has been built. It's very unlikely that you'll find another industry where peers, both inside and outside your company, are collaborating on a regular basis to share ideas, resources, experiences, pain points, and working together to ensure growth and success.”

Joining the cybersecurity industry means joining a community of innovators, protectors and change-makers willing to learn from each other and share best practices. 

Considering a Career in Cyber this National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week? 

Whether you’re new to the industry or looking for your next challenge, ZeroFox has an opportunity for you. ZeroFox’s mission is clear: we protect customers - their data, their assets and their people - across the internet. Through AI-powered technology, global intelligence collection and services provided by a team of expert analysts and threat hunters, we give customers the protection and intelligence needed to disrupt a new era of attacks on the surface, deep and dark web. With $150M+ in funding to date, recognition from Forrester as best-in-class in brand intelligence and numerous awards and honors, joining the ZeroFox team means joining a culture that is committed to excellence. That means committing to the success of each of our employees so you can be the best version of yourself on the best team.

There's no better time than National Cybersecurity Career Awareness Week to explore new opportunities in cybersecurity. If you’re ready to join a team that is mission-oriented, customer-focused, collaborative and dedicated, join us!