Duties and Responsibilities of the Information Security Engineer

Information security engineers, also called information security analysts, help protect your organization's computer systems and networks. They design and implement security measures to monitor and protect sensitive data and systems from infiltration and cyber attacks. Information security engineers typically work as part of a larger IT team and report directly to senior management.

As sensitive data is stored more frequently on computer systems, and cyber attacks and cyber attacks are more prevalent, businesses and governments increasingly rely on information security engineers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts an 18% increase in jobs for cybersecurity engineers through 2024, a rate much faster than the average employment growth in all other industries.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Information Security Engineer

Information security engineers perform many tasks to achieve their primary goal of protecting computer systems and networks. We analyzed various job postings to identify these core duties and responsibilities of information security engineers.

Develop information security plans and policies

Information security engineers help plan and implement an organization's information security strategy. Develop a set of security standards and best practices for the organization and recommend security improvements to management as needed. They develop strategies for responding to and recovering from a security breach. Information security engineers are also responsible for educating the workforce about information security through training and awareness.

Implement protections

Information security engineers install and use software, such as firewalls and data encryption programs, to protect sensitive information in organizations. They also help computer users with the installation or development of new security products and procedures.

Vulnerability test

An information security technician regularly performs network scans for vulnerabilities. They also perform penetration tests, in which they simulate an attack on the system to highlight or find weaknesses that could be exploited by an attacker.

Monitor security breaches

Information security technicians must constantly monitor the organization's networks and systems for security breaches or intrusions. They install software that helps them notify them of intrusions and monitor erratic system behavior.

Investigate security breaches

If a breach has occurred, the information security engineer directs incident response activities to minimize the impact. Next, they conduct a technical and forensic investigation into how the breach occurred and the extent of the damage. They prepare results reports to inform management.

Read More: systems administrator jobs