Cybersecurity Certification Center

Monday, September 15, 2025

Ethical Hacking - Career Earnings Analysis (September 2025)

Colleagues, implementing a well-defined, forward-thinking career development plan can boost your career and income growth over a 30-year life cycle. According to Verified Market Reports the “Ethical Hacking Certification Market Revenue was valued at USD $1.5 Billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach USD $4.3 Billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 12.5% from 2026 to 2033.” By making modest investments in your professional training and certification will reward you with greatly enhanced income potential.

Assumptions:

Duration: 30-year career lifecycle (e.g. age 25-55)
Salary: $140,00/year - Cybersecurity Jobs (compensation will vary by location - we will use a US average for our analysis)
Education Level: This model is based upon the individual having a BS/BA degree. A MS/MA degree adds an extra 5%-10%+ to annual income
Training & Certification: 5%-10% income lift/year
Salary - Annual Increase per CPI Inflation: 2.5%/year
Base Case: Junior Level - age 25/1st certification
Intermediate Case: Senior Individual Contributor - age 30/2nd certification
Advanced Case: Mid-Upper Management - age 35/3rd certification
Expert Case: Technical Refresher - age 40-45/4th certification

Junior Level (5 years of experience):

Title(s): Junior Ethical Hacking Specialist, Security Analyst, Junior Penetration Tester, Vulnerability Analyst, Cybersecurity Intern
Base income: $162,260/year
Sample Certs: Certified in Ethical Hacking (ISC2), CompTIA PenTest+, EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH):

Intermediate (10 years of experience):

Title(s): Penetration Tester, Ethical Hacker, Incident Response Analyst, Security Consultant
Base income: $196.434/year
Sample Certs: Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP), GIAC Certified Penetration Tester (GPEN)

Advanced (15 years of experience):

Title(s): Senior Penetration Tester, Cybersecurity Architect, Red Team Lead, Threat Hunter
Base income: $240,046/year
Sample Certs: Offensive Security Web Expert (OSWE), GIAC Exploit Researcher and Advanced Penetration Tester (GXPN), Offensive Security Exploit Developer (OSED)

Expert (Executive-Refresher) (20 years of experience):

Title(s): Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), Distinguished Security Engineer, Security Research Scientist, Director of Cybersecurity
Base income: $391,953/year
Sample Certs: GIAC Security Expert (GSE), Offensive Security Certified Expert³ (OSCE³)

Income Comparison:

Base Case: Junior Level - $162,260/year
Intermediate Case: Senior Individual Contributor - $196.434/year
Advanced Case: Mid-Upper Management - $240,046/year
Expert Case: Technical Refresher - $391,953/year

Note: For a more comprehensive roster of cyber certifications see CIAT, Cisco, EC-Council, Infosec Institute, NICCS along with Coursera, edX, (Pearson), Udacity, and Udemy.

Ethical Hacking Specializations, Master Classes and Certifications:

Get started today (teams & execs are welcome).

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Cybersecurity - Career Earnings Analysis (September 2025)

Colleagues, implementing a well-defined, forward-thinking career development plan can boost your career and income growth over a 30-year life cycle. According to Grand View Research “The global cyber security market size was estimated at USD $245.62 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD $500.70 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 12.9% from 2025 to 2030.” Making modest investments in your professional training and certification will reward you with greatly enhanced income potential.

Assumptions

Duration: 30-year career lifecycle (e.g. age 25-55)
Base Salary (entry level): $139k/year - Glassdoor (compensation will vary by location - we will use a US average for our analysis)
Education Level: This model is based upon the individual having a BS/BA degree. A MS/MA degree adds an extra 5%-10% to annual income
Training & Certification: 5%-10% income lift/year
Salary - Annual Increase per CPI Inflation: 2.5%/year
Base Case: Junior Level - age 25/1st certification
Intermediate Case: Senior Individual Contributor - age 30/2nd certification
Advanced Case: Mid-Upper Management - age 35/3rd certification
Expert Case: Technical Refresher - age 40-45/4th certification

Note: This income analysis does not include annual bonuses or stock options.

Junior Level (5 years of experience)

Title(s): Junior Security Analyst (Tier 1), Cybersecurity Specialist, Junior Penetration Tester, Cybersecurity Technician
Base income: $161,101/year
Sample Certs: Certified in Cybersecurity (ISC2), CompTIA Security+, CCNA-Security (Cisco)

Intermediate (10 years of experience)

Title(s): Security Analyst (Tier 2/3), Penetration Tester, Cloud Security Engineer, Application Security Engineer, SOC Analyst, Ethical Hacker
Base Income: $195,301/year
Sample Certs: CISSP (ISC2), Certified Ethical Hacker C|EH (EC Council), C|PENT (EC Council), Certified Cybersecurity Operations Analyst™-CCOA™ (ISACA), Cybersecurity Information Systems Auditor - CISA ( ISACA)

Advanced (15 years of experience)

Title(s): Senior Security Engineer, Security Architect, Threat Hunter, Forensic Investigator, Cybersecurity Incident Manager, SOC Manager/Director, Director of Cybersecurity, Chief Information Services Officer (CISO)
Base income: $238,312/year
Sample Certs: Certified Information Security Manager - CISM (ISACA), Certified Chief Information Security Officer - C|CISO (EC Council), Disaster Recovery Professional - E|DRP (EC Council)

Expert (Executive-Refresher) (20 years of experience)

Title(s): Principal Security Engineer, Cybersecurity Incident Response Manager, Cybersecurity Consultant, Ethical Hacking Advisor, GRC Advisor, Cybersecurity Auditor/Consultant, Principal Security Engineer, Security Researcher, Lead Cryptographer
Base income: $389,115/year
Sample Certs: Certified Information Security Auditor (ISACA), CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+), Governance, Risk and Compliance Certification - GRC (InfoSec Institute)

Income Comparison

Base Case: Junior Level - $161,101/year
Intermediate Case: Senior Individual Contributor - $195,301/year
Advanced Case: Mid-Upper Management - $238,312/year
Expert Case: Technical Refresher - $389,115/year

Note: For a more comprehensive roster of cyber certifications see EC Council, ISC2, ISACA, Infosec Institute, GIAC, Google, Microsoft, Cisco and IBM.

Cyber Specializations, Master Classes and Certifications (samples)

Get started today (teams & execs are welcome).

Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Information Systems Auditing, Controls and Assurance

Cyber colleagues, in the “Information Systems Auditing, Controls and Assurance” you will gain high-demand skills in FinTech, Risk Management, Change Management, Continuous Monitoring, and Emerging Technologies. Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) is the professional body in the IS Auditing area for years. With the latest IS technologies emerging, such as Big Data, FinTech, Virtual Banks, there are more concerns from the public on how organizations maintain systems’ integrity, such as data privacy, information security, compliance with government regulations. Management in organizations also need to be assured that systems work the way they expected. IS auditors play a crucial role in handling these issues. Skill-oriented training modules include: 1) Introduction to Information Systems Auditing: IS Auditing is related to risks, controls and assurance. In the first module, Prof. Dias introduces what risk is about. Getting deeper to risk, the 3-step risk management process is elaborated. To manage risks, controls need to be established. Prof. Dias also demonstrates with daily examples on what the controls are. 2) Perform IS Auditing: You are going to explore more about IS auditing through the conversation between Prof. Dias and the IS audit practitioner. Prof. Dias then explains the general IS audit procedures and two major testings that IS auditors/compliance officers have to conduct. Prof. Dias also explains the procedure to obtain evidence in order to produce justified audit reports, 3) Business Application Development: IT practitioners develop business applications following the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). IS auditors are in place to ensure the controls are implemented to mitigate the risks of developing application systems throughout the SDLC. Prof. Dias is going to review what IT practitioners usually do, and further elaborate the role that IS auditors play in different phases of SDLC, and 4) IS Maintenance and Control: Information systems seldom remain static, it is common for users to make change requests to add new features, or refine existing functions some time after the information system launches. Organizations should follow a formal procedure to make the changes in their systems manageable. Prof. Dias is going to give you an overview on the change management controls which organizations should follow. Different kinds of maintenance practices, and Emergency Controls are also discussed in this module.

Enroll today (teams & execs welcome): https://imp.i384100.net/o4WEkE

Much career success, Lawrence E. Wilson - Cybersecurity Certification Center (share with your team)