What Is a Typical Cyber Security Salary? Launch Your Career Today

According to the World Economic Forum, the cyber security industry has the highest skills-workforce gap. The need for skilled staff has rapidly increased over past years - given the industry value of 167.13 billion USD in 2020, predicted to grow to 345.4 billion USD by 2026. With cyber security salaries reaching over £95,000, this lucrative market is well worth exploring.

We can help you tap into this market by learning cyber security in a fun, friendly, and addictive environment. Whether you're a budding student interested in this field, looking for a career change, or simply interested in cyber security. There is a wealth of opportunity at your fingertips.

What is Cyber Security?

As a whole, cyber security protects computer systems from data breaches, theft, and damage. Recent data has suggested one small business in the UK is successfully hacked every 19 seconds, with 65,000 attempted cyber attacks per day. Businesses are reacting to this consistent stream of online threats by investing in the space - opening up thousands of job opportunities to passionate professionals.

A study exploring breached companies in 2020 reported the average cost as 3.86 million USD - approximately 2.82 million GBP. This data helps justify the cost of a skilled cyber security team - to prevent this outcome.

Job Roles and Salary

So what can you expect a cyber security salary to be? What job roles are available? We've compiled a list of the average salaries across some of the most sought-after positions in the space.

Cyber security analyst £40,000
This position can cover a range of skill levels - from entry-level through to higher level leadership roles. Leadership roles can make over £70,000, whilst a median skill level makes £40,000. A typical set of responsibilities include identifying problems and security risks in site infrastructure and protecting data from threat and damage.

Cyber security analysts ensure businesses follow best practices across the board, including employee activities and IT practices. This covers a broad range of business functions - such as advising colleagues on password complexity, data loss mitigation, and other security safeguards. Analysts also protect technical information, critical functions, and data across the company.

A role in this field entails monitoring various aspects of a website to see where attention is needed. For example, an increase in traffic could be a sign of a denial-of-service attack or an increase of failed authentications across systems. A broad set of tools in order to investigate and rectify anomalies are used in this role.

Our Pre-Security learning path is perfect for those who are getting started in cyber security and looking to learn the basics.

Ethical hacker £45,000
An ethical hacker does just that. Their job role entails attempting to hack their own system in order to find weaknesses that can lead to a security breach. With the company size and skill level taken into account, pay rates can rise to £95,000 for this cyber security salary, with a host of progression opportunities.

Also referred to as white hat hackers, ethical hackers put themselves in the hacking mindset to gain unauthorised access to company systems. They operate by gathering all information about the target before scanning to detect vulnerabilities - to gain and maintain access. To protect from a real-world black hat hacker scenario, ethical hackers report back on the success of the attack and the system flaws found throughout the process. Businesses can use this data to make security adaptations for system protection.

Security administrator £30,000
A security administrator position is usually required to install, administer, and troubleshoot a company's security solutions. This can include support of security tools such as firewalls, anti-virus software, and patch management systems.

Security administrators are often required to ensure IT infrastructure is running smoothly - carrying out day to day tasks and tickets from other members of the team. Scope for the day to day responsibilities of a security administrator can vary depending on the sector and organisation, so it’s worth having a look at the job specification to get a fuller picture in each instance.

Web developer £52,000
Variations of this role include front-end, back-end, and full-stack development. Front-end developers consider the local computer, device, and browser between the user and the website. They need to ensure functionality is maintained across all browsers. Back-end developers work with external company servers and are responsible for site code generation and database handling. Full-stack developers focus on both front-end and back-end development. Understanding problems and dependencies across roles can be a great fit for a team leader position, and often warrant high remuneration.

Developers are required to analyse systems, gather functional requirements, review code, and solve bugs and small changes for projects. They are responsible for the review and reporting of activities, and often see strong growth potential in businesses.

Our Offensive Pentesting learning path is perfect for ethical hackers, web developers, and penetration testers. Our new Junior Penetration Tester path has been launched to teach actionable methodologies, tactics, and security tools to kickstart a career in the field.  

Chief information security officer (CISO) £95,000+
This job role holds responsibility for the entirety of a company's data and information security. As a general rule, the bigger the organisation, the bigger the pay rate.

A CISO is a senior level executive who maintains strategy and processes to enforce security in the organisation. They respond to incidents, manage people, technologies, policies, and procedures. A CISO will generally require a balance between business acumen and technology knowledge. With such high demand in the cyber security industry, they often see significant compensation.

Our Cyber Defense learning path is perfect for security analysts, system admins, and CISO's.

How to Get Started in the Cyber Security Industry

With the industry boom, there has never been a better time to get started. It is noted that employers typically expect a balance between hands-on skills, education, and passion. We can help you with that.

TryHackMe was created to teach cyber security through short, gamified, real-world labs. Before launching TryHackMe, founders Ashu and Ben discovered first-hand the fragmented, inaccessible and difficult experience cyber security courses could be. Expensive courses and certifications often made it hard for people to enter the industry. In light of this, we're here to be as affordable, accessible, and fun as possible. Our courses are suited to all - from the complete beginner through to the seasoned hacker.

With TryHackMe you can learn cyber security through a range of resources. They include our Web-Based AttackBox where you can learn to hack machines through your browser, learning with structured pathways, starting realistic vulnerable networks, and game-based learning.

With your new cyber security expertise, you could also set up alerts from job websites and follow key influencers. Platforms such as LinkedIn are a great tool to connect you with prospective employers, with networking being a key tool to get your foot in the door. You can follow our community on Twitter for more updates and information.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out some of our success stories from people like Kassandra - who transitioned from a teacher to security practitioner through learning with TryHackMe.

Sign up today to kickstart your career.