THINGS THEY DON'T TELL YOU ABOUT CYBERSECURITY

If you are into I.T., chances are, you came across a video, on social media explaining how lucrative you can earn a lot of money within the shortest possible time via Cybersecurity. These ads and videos briefly explain how you can learn from free online resources and become an expert in weeks if not months! 

Cybersecurity

The question then is, how true are these claims and ads? Has anyone followed any of these courses and become an expert in months? Any critical thinker can easily analyze these claims carefully, and with a little research will soon realize that most of these videos, ads, and claims are half-baked and fall short of the truth, especially for Africans.

Cybersecurity is a broad and interesting field, but a complex maze with multiple cubicles. One must therefore be careful not to get lost and lose hope within this maze.

Several people are eyeing the possibility of becoming a cybersecurity operative only to give up after a few months of unsuccessful attempts to understand the basics of networking. Do not be misled, the reality is that cybersecurity is not as easy as the ads on social media make it, especially if you want to be an expert.

I see my colleagues thinking about going into the field with high hopes of making some money within the shortest time, but most ended up turning away from IT completely.

You see; the truth is always hidden, and unfortunately, most schools and training institutions do not have consultants and coaches who will listen to people, explain what they are getting into, and guide them to make the right choice when choosing an I.T. program in most African countries let alone Ghana. This; has been a serious hidden issue that led people to start with some cybersecurity-related courses, only to give up after some time, and lose money.

Let's take a little dive into cybersecurity and what it entails here, Cybersecurity is the protection of digital assets, networks, and programs from attacks(as the shortest best explanation). You can only protect what you know and understand including how the thing works and operates. You cannot protect what you do not know about and understand, simple logic should tell you this. Note that; there are different ways of protecting devices based on the device, or based on the approach. This is an explanation that should throw light on what is being explained here. 

CYBERSECURITY EXPLAINED

Let's look at CYBERSECURITY operatives as Policemen. They protect us: but before doing that, they have to understand how we behave, what we do, what we do not do, our cultural practices, norms, and taboos carefully. If not, we will end up seeing the police as enemies of society and there will be conflict.

Next after understanding us, the police have ways of protecting us, guiding us, attending to our emergency calls, and advising us on how to stay safe.

They also have protocols within which they work; they have rules and processes they follow in the case of an event, they have superiors and subordinates they work with. They are equipped with weapons which they fight with to arrest bad people in our society. They have different departments, CIDS, TASK FORCE, COUNTER TERRORISM UNITS, etc. who deal with specific tasks. 

This same illustration applies to the field of cybersecurity, it is a single body with multiple units that operate together!

In a nutshell; before you begin the journey of cybersecurity, you have to understand that there's a basic training you must undertake (the prerequisites). Although I see a lot of ads and people claiming you can go into cybersecurity without any pre-requisite, I will say, tread cautiously! and don't be deceived. You will need some basic training.

THE CYBERSECURITY PRE-REQUISITE

To be a good cybersecurity operative, although there isn't any one distinctive requirement to cybersecurity, at the minimum you will need these courses:

• Hardware, Networking & Some Systems Security 
• Linux basics
• Basics in Programming (Python, Java, SQL, etc.)

At maximum, you will even need more to make it easy for you. There are several institutions out there and all of them have their pre-requisites for cybersecurity. More information on cybersecurity pre-requisites here: https://www.simplilearn.com/tutorials/cyber-security-tutorial/cyber-security-skills

The pre-requisite (pathway) to cybersecurity by CompTIA
photo source: https://www.comptia.org/training/by-certification

The point is that; without any of the above or similar certifications and more importantly, the experience, it will be difficult to be an excellent cybersecurity operative. You need to start from somewhere but not social media video!

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE THINKING OF GOING IN FOR CYBERSECURITY

• At least have some hardware knowledge to understand how the parts of computers work including Operating systems in general
• Some networking skills to understand how computers and devices communicate when connected, the protocols involved, and the associated dangers. Know how routers and switches work and be able to configure some 
• Have some internet skills, how browsers display messages, more online security tips on malware, and some advanced search skills
• Add some coding and scripting skills because you will need it
• Get into Linux and explore how it works

Once you have the above skills, experience, and certification, then, you can start looking at cybersecurity. The challenge for us in Africa is the difference in technological advancement. Africa, especially Ghana seems to be centuries late in the tech era. With regards to devices in developed countries, we seem to be stuck at the beginning line and this makes it challenging to pursue an active cybersecurity course. Another key difference is the contrast in job salary expectations, developed countries will simply pay more than our developing countries. 

CHALLENGES OF THOSE WHO WANT TO GET FREE CYBERSECURITY TRAINING

More interestingly, you can easily pursue cybersecurity if you already have the basics. The only challenge will be the resources you will need for practical experiments. With cybersecurity comes the need for;

1. Lab(more than one computer with routers, switches etc.)

2. Security software (most of which are not open source)

3. You may need a mentor or guide 

4. You may need some devices to experiment with (which can be costly).

Yet where there's a will, there's surely a way. It is rather challenging to undertake cybersecurity in Africa if you are not well equipped since you can easily be misled.

Albeit, here are some outstanding online cybersecurity sites for the enthusiasts out there who still have their love for the field burning:

1. cybrary.it
2. coursera.org
3. edx.org
4. isc2.org
5. alison.com and many more

The last note is that cybersecurity has many branches and you have to choose your path as you go along. Here is an example of a cybersecurity career path.

As you improve your skills, you may either change your path based on your interest or maintain your level. You may train to be a malware hunter, forensics expert, SOC analyst, security software developer, incident responder, etc. The choice is always yours.

This article is not to scare people off the interesting field of cybersecurity but to let them know the reality when it comes to considering the program in Africa, especially Ghana. Kindly be informed;  take considerations before going for this program, and do not fall for social media ads making the program look so easy with promises of salaries in several thousands of dollars! It takes years of toiling and experience for a person to be an expert in a program, especially cybersecurity.