Cybersecurity Certification Center

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)

Thursday, August 28, 2025

Ethical Hacking Essentials - EHE (EC Council)

Cyber colleagues, in the “Ethical Hacking Essentials (EHE)” training program you will learn the fundamentals of information security and ethical hacking, information security threats and vulnerabilities, types of malwares, and vulnerability assessments, network-level attacks including sniffing, denial-of-service, and session hijacking, and their countermeasures, application-level attacks including webserver exploitation, OWASP top10 attacks, and SQL injection and their countermeasures. Gain high-demand skill in Mobile Security, Cybersecurity, Internet Of Things, Authentications, Threat Detection, Penetration Testing, Application Security, Network Security, Cloud Security, Wireless Networks, Vulnerability Assessments, Security Awareness, and Encryption. There are 12 modules in this course: 1) InfoSec Fundamentals, 2) Ethical Hacking Fundamentals, 3) InfoSec Security Threats and Vulnerability Assessments, 4) Password Cracking and Countermeasures, 5) Social Engineering, 6) Network Level Attacks, 7) Web Application Attacks, 8) Wireless Attacks, 9) Mobile Attacks, 10) IoT and OT Attacks, 11) Cloud Computing Attacks, and 12) Penetration Testing Fundamentals.

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

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

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Ethical Hacker - Discover Your Path to Career Success

Colleagues, did you know that “The ethical hacking certification market size was valued at approximately usd $2.3B in 2024 and is expected to reach usd $5.75B by 2033, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 15% from 2025 to 2033” based on Business Research Insights (April 2025)? The article entitled “How To Become an Ethical Hacker” published by Indeed (March 2025).

Job Titles: Penetration Tester (Pentester), Web Application Penetration Tester, Network Penetration Tester, Cloud Penetration Tester, Security Analyst, Information Security Analyst, Security Engineer, Red Team Engineer, Vulnerability Analyst, Application Security Engineer, Security Consultant, Incident Responder, Security Auditor

Salaries: Coursera, Fynd Academy, Glassdoor, NetCom Learning, PayScale, Talent.com, ZipRecruiter (will vary by experience level & location)

Career Opportunities: Dice, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, Simply Hired, Wellfound, ZipRecruiter

Certification and Training programs - add an extra 5%-10% to your compensation (enroll now):

Enroll today (teams & execs are welcome).

Begin your path to success today, Lawrence E. Wilson - Cybersecurity Certification Center (share with colleagues & friends)

Monday, August 25, 2025

Cybersecurity - Interviews, Project Portfolios & Certifications (Your competitive edge)

Colleagues, are you seeking to land the next job in your Cybersecurity career journey … either within your current company or with a new employer? All hiring managers need to answer three fundamental questions in the interview process before making a job offer.

Interview Questions

Skills: Can you do the job?
Motivation: Will you do the job?
Fit: Will you be a team player and fit into the company culture?

Professional Portfolio

Creating a high qualityCybersecurity professional portfolio combined with having industry-leading certifications - along with relevant work experience - will put you at the top of the candidate pool when answering the “Skills” question.

What is a Project Portfolio?

A project portfolio is a collection of projects, programs, and operations managed collectively to achieve strategic objectives.
It demonstrates your diverse skills, experience, and proven ability to deliver results, showcasing your value and strategic impact to potential employers or for internal advancement.

What Makes a Project Portfolio Valuable?

Strategic Alignment: Connecting projects to organizational goals.
Resource Management: Efficient allocation of people and assets.
Risk Management: Identifying and mitigating potential threats.
Performance Monitoring: Tracking progress and outcomes.
Stakeholder Communication: Keeping all parties informed and engaged.

What are the best portals to host your project portfolio?

GitHub
LinkedIn
Behance
Dribbble
Kaggle
Hugging Face
Personal Website (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Webflow - Offers maximum customization & a professional brand presence)

Industry-Leading Certifications & Training

Enroll today (teams & executives are welcome).

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