Types of Cyber Security Engineers

Organizing the cyber security engineer position into an accurate yet static list of types is an unachievable task in today’s information security industry landscape. This particular position is as diverse as its field (cyber security) and its sector (technology). The duties and tasks executed by these professionals are often misunderstood and miscategorized by the human resources departments and hiring managers that the term “engineer” has become vague and sometimes misleading. The word ‘engineer’ stems from the term ‘engine’ and is defined by the merriam webster dictionary as follows: “a person who has scientific training and who designs and builds complicated products, machines, systems, or structures : a person who specializes in a branch of engineering”. Engineer as it stands does NOT reflect the current workforce and can lead to ambiguous/false descriptions of what they do.

If we strictly follow the merriam webster definition and apply it to today’s information security landscape, only a few true engineers will make it to the list. Among these are: data security engineers, network security engineers, systems security engineers, software security engineers, communication technology security engineers, application security engineers, web application security engineers, web security engineers, windows security engineers, linux security engineers, wireless security engineers, checkpoint security engineers, and biometrics security engineers.