Essential Qualities for a Successful Cyber Intelligence Analyst

It is no wonder that cyber-related jobs are among the fastest growing careers fields in this day and age. Technology drives everything we do and in order to gain the advantage over competitors and potential enemies we have to be able to not only operate in the cyber-world, but have the best people out there performing the work. The Intelligence and National Security Alliance Cyber Intelligence Task Force recently released a white paper called “Cyber Intelligence: Preparing Today’s Talent for Tomorrow’s Threats” which outlines what cyber intelligence is, why it is important, and what we need to do in order to stay ahead of the growing number of cyber threats and other challenges.

A particularly interesting part of the paper was the section on what training, core competencies, technical skills, characteristics, and personal traits cyber intelligence analysts should have in order to be successful. They broke it down into these main categories: critical thinking; data collection & examination; communication & collaboration; computing fundamentals; information security; and technical exploitation. Each of these categories have sub-categories and skills within them. Unlike some more technical disciplines, cyber intelligence analysts need to be able to integrate analytic and technical skills and have the ability to organize the information and communicate sound, reasoned opinions.

So if you are looking to jump into this fast-paced and growing career field, start working on the previously mentioned skill sets to make yourself more competitive and invaluable to potential employers.