97 Things Every Information Security Professional Should Know

Chapter 36. How Many Ingredients Does It Take to Make an Information Security Professional?

Jasmine M. Jackson

What makes a good security professional? Some would say to have security certifications as long as your name. Others would say that you have to be born with it. Neither of these statements are true. There are information security professionals who are high school drop-outs, high school graduates, and college graduates. What do all of these groups have in common? They have specific ingredients to make them great information security professionals. Want to know the ingredients? Well keep reading.

The first ingredient is to have a thirst for knowledge. Many information security professionals take on the quest of learning a subject to become a master in it. This drive or quest will never go away. As their understanding of the subject grows, so does their depth of knowledge.

The second ingredient is finding a niche in information security. The information security field is very broad and vast. Sample subject areas are application security, forensics, and risk and governance. Good information security professionals master one subject and have a breadth of knowledge in other subject areas. This extensive knowledge will allow the information security professional to not be siloed or close-minded in their approach to solving problems.

The third ingredient is passion. There will ...