Career in Information Security/Ethical Hacking

What is the entry level post?
Network Security Administrator
Application Security Tester
Forensics Tester
Ethical Hacker
Junior Security Auditor
Security Certified Programmer
Security Certified Information User

-What is the starting salary?

In India the starting salaries are of the range Rs 15K-50k depending on qualifications. For e.g- A person who has done B.Tech computer science along withh a security certification like MASE will normally get around Rs 30K as a starting salary and a person who has done diplomas etc with security certification like MASE will get around Rs 15K once he completes the probabation period. Then he moves on to drawing higher salaries with time and experience. Security sector is one of the highest paid sector in the world and for India it will be no different. The salaries go up to infinite range and security experts earn 15 lakh per annum and company’s CISO ( Chief Information Security Officer ) earns around Rs 25 lakhs per annum

-What is the growth curve like starting as a fresher, where can he go?

Network Security administrator -> Network Security Manager -> Security Officer -> Chief Information Security Officer
Ethical Hacker/Penetration Tester -> Security Consultant and Manager -> Chief Information Security Officer
Application Security Tester -> Application Security Developer -> Application Security Manager -> Chief Application Security Officer
Forensics Tester -> Forensics Manager – > Forensics head
Junior Security Auditor -> Security Auditor
Secured Programmer-> Security Project Manager

And many more…

- What is the industry growth rate both india and world ?

over 30% in India and around 21% in the world

What are kinds of DATA THEFT?

Theft of Intellectual Property/Softwares etc stolen -

These thefts occur at 2 levels

a) Ideation and Software design for the software – This means the theft occurs at a stage when the software is not made but thought of and designed. This can occur if any of your employees in the core project team leaves the company during the project and joins the competitor where he presents the same architecture. He can either have the documents of the software design or have the architecture in his mind. The theft can be prevented by implementing laws such as an employee is not allowed to leave a company midway of project, creating laws that abide him to do that ( employee contract) and heavy penalty enforced in case he does it. The theft can also occur technically by hacking into the project team’s individual laptops or computer when they are at home. This can also be prevented by processes and technical security which can be taught to them.

b) Theft of the software program – This is not that easy and is done in following ways
- Project is outsourced to a third party who copies the software and perhaps sell under different brand name
- Software program is stolen from the core team’s computer by hacking when they might take the software home for testing, coding etc
- Individual software uncompiled codes stolen which can be later combined to form the software ( E.g.- An Appin employee shares the security software code with friend from competitor company for checking the code, to prove his/her capability )

These thefts can be done intentially by your own employees for financial gain by using emails, removable devices or captured by hackers by using techniques of social engineering or technical hacking. For preventing these a team should be maintained for technical security, its up gradation comprising of security people, ethical hackers, security managers etc along with enforcement of laws and security processes within an organization. You also need to consult specialists in security, have regular training programs to stay aware about the latest threats and ways adopted. This is information age and you need to understand, implement and upgrade your information security skills, awareness programs on Information Security for everyone in the organization. Information can be leaked at all levels and hence should be secured at all levels

Other kind of data thefts that happen include customers databases, confidential proposals, strategy documents and even board room meeting minutes. Some case have been reported. For e.g – A famous Data Center had some client data copying in the past, A famous gas company’s statistics were stolen, Some other internet based companies are hacked and their data is copied often, even government information has been stolen by hacking into web servers and other attacks done by countries that are against India. I will not name a company because this is classified information. They could sue us for providing this information. Top companies have been hacked like we heard the recent case of airtel.
These can be prevented by taking measures as mentioned above along with special security consulting companies taking care of your information security

India is it equipped?

Though Indian companies has started adopting security but we still have a long way to go till it becomes a part of our psychology. We lock our houses but forget the same about digital information. We need more technical man power, companies should increase their budgets to save their reputation, clients and business secrets. We need to become a security conscious nation else our BPO and IT industry which is reputed in the world will lose its reputation and fall down on growth rates. We have to be more secured than any other nation . We are sure to achieve this if we all work together.

BPO’s

BPO & Data processing facilities are basically classified into different segments with respect to their capabilites, revenues , turnovers .
One is a set of huge BPO’s like Convergys, Genpact, HSBC, Wipro Spectramind etc which are very secured. The problem is still we have seen thefts in
HSBC, Wipro Spectramind in last couple of years.

Then there is another set of BPO’s which are smaller in size and don’t have adequate security processes and infrastructure. It is very easy to copy data, leaque data etc.
The reason is not that they can’t do it. They are just not aware and hence none of the employees are aware too.

Then there are very small BPO’s which are ranging froma head count of 5- 100 people which don’t follow security policies at all.

Thus overall Indian BPO industry needs to raise its standards in Security, take more training programs, consult experts as this is the primary industry of India and hence the reputation and revenue loss is big if a crime occurs