Professional Hackers

High School

Take as many computer science classes as possible—particularly in programming, database management, computer security, and software design. In addition to computer classes, join your school’s computer or technology club and ask your computer science teachers to assign you special projects to work on in the computer lab or at home. Other useful classes include English, speech, mathematics, science, psychology, business, and social studies.

Postsecondary Education

Many colleges and universities offer degrees in computer or information security. If your college doesn’t offer such a major, you can earn a bachelor’s degree in programming, database management, computer science, or networking and a minor in computer security, or earn a graduate degree in information security. Some employers prefer to hire those with a master’s of business administration in information systems. Many programs require the completion of at least one internship in computer security. Visit https://niccs.us-cert.gov/education/internship-opportunities for a list of internship programs. 

Other Education or Training

It’s extremely important for professional hackers to continue to learn throughout their careers because black hat hackers are constantly devising new ways to break into secure networks or create other types of computer and Internet chaos. Professional associations and government agencies often provide continuing education (CE) opportunities. For example, SANS Institute offers webcasts—such as Is Active Breach Detection the Next-Generation Security Technology?; Mobile Data Loss: Threats & Countermeasures; Expect the Unexpected, Preparing for the Inevitable Cyber Breach; and Open Season on Cyberthreats: Threat Hunting 101—as well as a variety of other professional development opportunities. Employees of the federal government can access the Federal Virtual Training Environment, a multimedia e-learning environment that offers video-recorded lectures, demos, and hands-on labs about ethical hacking skills, traffic analysis, risk management, malware analysis, network monitoring, and software assurance. Continuing education classes, webinars, seminars, and workshops are also provided by the Association for Computing Machinery, CERT Coordination Center, CompTIA, High Technology Crime Investigation Association, IEEE Computer Society, Information Systems Security Association, and (ISC)².

Certification

Some colleges and universities offer undergraduate and graduate certificates in Internet security, computer science, programming, database management, and related areas. For example, the University of Maryland offers the following graduate certificates in cybersecurity: Cybersecurity Management and Policy, Cybersecurity Technology, and Information Assurance. Contact schools in your area to learn about available programs.

The IEEE Computer Society offers certificates of achievement to those who complete the following security-related courses: Secure Software Coding, Foundations of Software Security, Secure Software Design, Managing Secure Software Development, and Cloud Computing In the Business Environment.