Cybersecurity breaches happen every single day—and they oftentimes occur without people even realizing it. Something as simple as a phone call can put large multinational companies at risk, as shown by the recently reported cybersecurity incidents at top gambling companies.
This is the reality faced by companies and organizations on a massive scale, from small businesses all the way up to large corporations, costing billions of dollars each year in prevention and response.
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But according to Deloitte, indirect business costs associated with cyber attacks can far outweigh more tangible expenses. Things like reduced consumer trust, insurance premium increases, and operational disruptions can sometimes account for 95% of business impact from a cyber attack.
Thus, a need for cybersecurity professionals is an increasing priority for many businesses, especially in light of October marking the start of Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
There are now more than half a million open cybersecurity jobs in the U.S. alone—but there remains a shortage of workers skilled enough for the positions, based on numbers from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Many companies are offering ways to learn online the necessary skills in areas like cybersecurity. The certification and skills training is often far cheaper than a typical degree program and may take just a fraction of the time.
Providing these more accessible ways to gain cybersecurity skills is the mission of Cybrary—an online cybersecurity learning platform that teaches in-demand skills in subjects like incident response, cybersecurity engineering, and system penetration testing.
The company believes there are plenty of people out there who are eager to have a job in cybersecurity, but the issue lies in the lack of accessibility to the resources and training these individuals need to jumpstart their careers.
As a host for many popular certifications, such as CompTIA’s Security+ as well as ISC2’s Certified Information Systems Security Professional, Cybrary also provides preparation opportunities across cybersecurity skill levels.
Finding out your path
Marc Balingit is a security researcher in incident response at Cybrary, as well as an instructor for two dozen courses on the platform, focused on topics like digital forensics and reverse engineering.
He says the hands-on experience provided by Cybrary—such as in hackers vs. defender exercises—provide students with the learning they need to jumpstart or advance their career. Most importantly, with there being many facets of the cyber and tech world, course engagement helps students carve their own path.
“I learned the hard way, but long story short is— take a certification if this is really what you want to do. Your passion, your drive is going to help you already pass that test, making you study every day as well as fulfill your career,” he says.
He advises students to not just take cybersecurity certifications just to pass. While it can help get you a job, it may not help get you where you truly want to be.
Students can access many Cybrary resources for free. Access to its community network and skill proficiency report require monthly or annual subscription.
Community-based skills learning
While there are hundreds of ways to learn cybersecurity, Balingit notes the shared learning experiences as a community helps distinguish Cybrary. As a paid member, learners gain access to mentors, career coaching, and networking via Discord.
“You’re not here by yourself,” Balingit tells Fortune. “If you ever try to learn a new skill, drawing, for example, or piano or take a certification—it kind of sucks when you do it by yourself. When you have a study group, when you have mentors, when you have a community, it drives you to learn even more.”
For those just getting started in cybersecurity, he adds Cybrary provides a pathway for students to become knowledgeable with cybersecurity fundamentals—with an emphasis on the CIA triad—confidentiality, integrity, and availability. This job-readiness training is completed hands-on—in part through labs and assessments.
“You can probably ask a lot of other cybersecurity professionals— the hands on skills is everything,” he says. “It’s not that we really don’t really see the 4.0 GPA, the Ivy League school, but it’s really—do you know your stuff, right?”
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