Career in information security

Information security means protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction. In the last couple of years, web security has become a big focus. With too much of classified information on the net, securing data is a big time headache for the governments, business, military, hospitals, financial institutions, and private business.

In the last couple of years, the percentage of data thefts, hacking, virus attacks and other cyber crimes have increased exponentially. Thus, web security and ethical hacking is the latest buzzword in the industry.

Job prospects:

According to a prediction, the total requirement of security handling professionals in India will cross 2, 50,000 by year 2011. Currently India has only 20,000 experts in the field.

What to learn?

Security handling, however requires an in-depth knowledge of the data travelling procedures and must be well conversant with the areas like internet protocols, IP routing, network configurations, switching, ethical hacking, server security, firewall security, email security, wireless and mobile security, understanding of data structures, etc. Besides, one has to have working knowledge of at least one programming language like C or C++. With an altogether different approach to a problem, sky is the limit for the proficient in information security.