Highest Paying, Hottest Careers in Information Security

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) recently released a list of highest paying jobs in the Philippines and it so missed some of the rarest and hard-to-find jobs in PH: Information Security Analyst/Officer/Manager

Information Security career is one of the most challenging yet rewarding as the career path can begin at the technical level and up to executive/senior management level. You need to have the right mix of qualifications from expertise/knowledge in routers, firewalls, switches, WIndows Administration, Linux/UNIX/IBM AIX admiistration, anti-virus, endpoint security, physical security, PCI-DSS, ISO27001, SOX, CObIT, and other stuff plus knowledge in business, psychology and management. You must be able to communicate your requirements to upper management otherwise you will end up misunderstood and under-budgetted to support your security improvement initiatives.

There is also no such thing as Bachelor of Science in Information Security. Not much college courses on it. I myself am an Electronics and Communications Engineer (BSECE graduate) and went to work as IP Networks engineer (mostly on Inter-network routing using BGP/OSPF) before I learned network security. I became a network security administrator at a local online gaming company before I was snatched by my current employer as an Information Security Officer.

Many banks are looking for PCI-DSS proficiency these days as most of credit card issuers are aiming for PCI-DSS certification e.g. BDO, BPI, Equicom Savings Bank, Security Bank, and even the ATM networks like BancNet and Megalink.

If you want to be an information security officer, try to look for job openings with posted qualifications and compare if you have the skills and qualifications required by the job. From there try to study on your own to complement formal training, that's the path to career advancement not just in InfoSec but in all career growth.