If you’re trying to break into cybersecurity and don’t know exactly what skills to focus on learning, this article is for you. These are the top five skills that employers are actually hiring for right now. Let’s dive in and talk about what you need to know to stay ahead in this fast-evolving field.
The Big Picture: Why These Skills Matter
Before we jump into the list, I want to call out something important: a lot of the skills we’re using in today’s job market are going to be vastly different from the skills we’ll need in 10, 20, or even 50 years. If you haven’t noticed, a lot of entry-level work—like reviewing logs, reviewing alerts, typical SOC (Security Operations Center) work, which also happens to be some of the most entry-level roles in cybersecurity—are being replaced by AI. I’ve written plenty of articles on my site about what’s going to be replaced by AI and what isn’t, but the best way to future-proof yourself and make sure you’re hirable in the next 5, 10, or 15 years is by learning future-proof cybersecurity skills.
Cybersecurity as a sector isn’t going anywhere. It was listed as the number two fastest-growing skill in the World Economic Forum’s latest Future of Jobs report. But the specific skills you learn are going to make the biggest difference in your career. So, let’s get started.
Skill #1: AI and Security Automation
The first skill you should focus on is AI and security automation. This means understanding how cybersecurity teams are using AI to automate parts of their cybersecurity processes and how AI is helping them detect, analyze, and respond to cybersecurity threats.
I know there’s a lot of talk about AI replacing jobs, but it’s more about AI replacing parts of your job that you probably didn’t want to do anyway—tasks that can be automated away. This frees you up to focus your time on the more important projects that still need human attention. As someone who has previously worked on the Blue Team side, the Red Team side, and in GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance), I can tell you there’s never a lack of projects to work on. Incorporating AI into your workflow doesn’t mean your role on the team is going to be obsolete.
How AI Is Being Used in SOC Environments
One of the big trends I’ve been seeing is using AI in SOC environments. Security Operations Centers are increasingly integrating AI to handle vast amounts of security data. Depending on the size of your company, your infrastructure, and the amount of data your company generates, the number of alerts generated from this data can be overwhelming. Here are the biggest areas where AI is being incorporated:
- Threat Detection: AI analyzes logs or network activity to identify anomalies faster than a typical person would.
- Incident Prioritization: AI ranks different threats and alerts based on their risk level or severity, which helps reduce alert fatigue for SOC analysts digging into these alerts.
- Automated Investigations: AI can help SOC analysts correlate data across multiple platforms and data sources to detect potential attack patterns. By the time an alert reaches an analyst, the AI tool may have already done some pre-investigation work, making their job easier and faster. Instead of digging through a SIEM (Security Information and Event Management) system to find logs, the AI has already combed through them for you.
How to Get Started
As a beginner, get very familiar with how a SOC works and how a SIEM works. You can actually set up your own SOC home lab using open-source tools for free on the internet. I have an article on how to build your own home lab—check it out on my site. These are all skills you can learn on your own, and you can accelerate your learning by picking up common scripting languages like:
- Python
- PowerShell
- JavaScript (especially if you’re interested in Red Teaming)
I also highly recommend getting familiar with SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response) tools and the different AI enhancements being made to those tools.
Skill #2: Security Auditing and GRC
The second skill you should focus on is security auditing and GRC. I know you’re probably tired of hearing me talk about this because I personally think GRC is one of the biggest areas to go into in cybersecurity, especially with the advancements in AI.
Why GRC Is a Big Deal
Who’s going to be creating the regulations around using AI? Who’s handling the compliance requirements for training AI or integrating AI technologies into widely used software and platforms? As more companies come online—thanks to the accessibility of technology that AI is creating—there’s a growing need for GRC professionals. AI is making it easier for companies that originally didn’t have access to direct talent (like a software engineer to build a website or application) to create their own applications from scratch, often at a low cost or even for free. But this also creates a much bigger surface area for:
- Cyberattacks
- Ransomware attacks
- Phishing and social engineering attacks
Once these companies are up and running and looking for customers, their customers are going to want to know if they’re compliant with standards like:
- ISO 27001
- SOC 2
- GDPR
- Sector-specific requirements like HIPAA, PCI, or others
With AI enabling more companies to come online and create new businesses, there’s going to be a lot more demand for GRC professionals and security auditors to audit their security processes, technologies, and infrastructure to ensure they’re keeping their data, users, and employees secure.
My Take
I may be a little biased, but I do think GRC is going to be huge in the next 5 to 10 years.
Skill #3: Zero Trust and Endpoint Protection
The third skill to focus on is zero trust and endpoint protection. Traditional network perimeters are disappearing, which means cybersecurity teams have to think about zero trust and how to implement it within their organizations.
What Is Zero Trust?
Zero trust is a security strategy that assumes all users and devices are untrusted by default. Gone are the days when you log in once to your work laptop and then have authenticated access to any application or admin-level privileges. With zero trust:
- Users are only given the least privilege needed to do their jobs—nothing more.
- There’s continuous verification of who users are and validation that they’re able to access certain tools, applications, or data.
However, zero trust is very difficult to implement because of the sheer number of controls and mitigations that need to be in place for it to work.
Enter ThreatLocker
This is where ThreatLocker comes in, a zero trust endpoint protection platform designed to protect organizations from cyber threats like malware, ransomware, and unauthorized applications. It uses:
- Application Control: Only apps on an allow list can run.
- Ring Fencing: Prevents suspicious files (like a downloaded doc from a phishing link) from interacting with the system, ensuring they can’t be exploited.
- Storage Control: Manages what can be stored or accessed.
- Elevation Control: Elevates privileges only when needed, like during an application update, and prevents apps from interacting with others at an admin level (e.g., stopping Microsoft Word from launching PowerShell).
ThreatLocker’s learning mode makes setup easier by automatically building application control policies based on what’s running in your environment. You just review and approve, locking things down without breaking your workflow. This level of control granularity is what makes ThreatLocker and zero trust security so powerful. You can stop cyberattacks before they happen and prevent attackers from elevating privileges or moving laterally within a network.
How to Learn Zero Trust
If you’re interested in zero trust security, I highly recommend checking out Upskill level up your skills. Upskill is a platform where you can learn many skills that will help you in your career and even to make extra money for yourself outside of your job. They have a lot of free courses and some that you need to purchase. Visit their site at Upskill to explore courses that teach you the basics and give you an idea of the real-world technical tools companies are using to defend against cyberattacks and secure their devices.
Skill #4: Cloud Security
The fourth skill on this list is cloud security. I recently shared a full career roadmap for a cloud security analyst—check it out if you’re interested—but cloud is another huge area growing alongside the adoption of AI.
Why Cloud Security Matters
More companies are coming online, and running servers in a physical data center is expensive and hard to maintain. The best, cheaper, and scalable alternative is the cloud. If you’re just starting out, I recommend taking free training from one of the big cloud providers. Most of them offer free training, and some even provide discounted or free environments where you can spin up your own cloud environment and get hands-on experience with cloud-native security tools.
Where to Start
Here are some great places to begin:
- Container Security: Dig into Docker or Kubernetes to get hands-on with technology companies are actively using to stay secure while being scalable and efficient.
- Cloud Security Frameworks: Learn frameworks like CIS or NIST to gain a deeper understanding of how to protect assets, data, users, and applications in the cloud.
Skill #5: Ethical Hacking and Penetration Testing
Last but not least, the fifth skill is ethical hacking and penetration testing. Personally, I don’t think human ethical hackers are going anywhere anytime soon. If you’ve seen what Red Teamers can do, that’s not something AI can replace—at least not yet. That’s my opinion, but I know others in the sector share it. I’d love to hear what you think about this—drop your thoughts in the comments below.
Why Ethical Hacking Stays Relevant
Vulnerability scanners and automated pentest scans have always been around, and AI will enhance them, but there’s no way to fully replace a human pentester. Humans can be far more creative, especially in Red Team assessments, not just typical web application pentests.
It’s not too late to become a pentester or ethical hacker. If you’re interested in Red Teaming, focus on:
- The MITRE ATT&CK framework
- Social engineering attacks like phishing
- Different suites of pen-testing tools
- Operating systems like Linux
- General scripting skills
How to Get Started
Start by spinning up your own virtual machine and setting up Kali Linux—it comes with a huge list of pre-built cybersecurity and ethical hacking tools you can test out. You can also use a website like CTFtime.org, which lists upcoming Capture the Flag (CTF) events—timed hacking challenges you can join solo or as a team. Platforms like TryHackMe and Hack The Box also offer great CTF-style training rooms for hands-on practice.
The best way to become a pentester is to get hands-on experience hacking things legally. I’d highly recommend visiting CTFtime.org to find an upcoming CTF where you can practice after doing some training on hacking platforms.
Wrapping It Up
That’s it for this article! Hopefully, it was helpful in breaking down the top five cybersecurity skills employers are hiring for. I’d love to hear your thoughts—where do you think the future of cybersecurity is going, and what skills are hiring managers looking for in their job candidates? Drop your questions or comments below.
Don’t forget to check out Upskill level up your skills—it’s a great skill to add to your resume and for future projects, as it’s definitely top of mind for cybersecurity teams. Upskill is a platform where you can learn many skills that will help you in your career and even to make extra money for yourself outside of your job. They have a lot of free courses and some that you need to purchase. Check out their courses at Upskill.
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