Experts: What we do...

“I was exposed to cybersecurity back when I was in Form One. My father was a co-owner of a cybercafé in my hometown, Temerloh, Pahang, and that’s where it all started. Back then, Internet Relay Chat (IRC) was the main means to communicate and learn about cybersecurity. Now, my work in a local telco company entails collecting and processing information to understand the threats that have, will, or are currently targeting us. This info is used to prepare, prevent and identify cyber threats looking to take advantage of valuable resources. If a security incident happens, my team and I will have to identify the attack, contain the damage, and eradicate the root cause of the incident. I also have the opportunity to help law enforcement and government agencies in dealing with cybersecurity threats and incidents. It sounds stressful but it is actually fun. There are many parts of the job that excite me but what I love the most is when I review the dashboard in the morning and find thousands of failed cyber attack attempts due to the proactive activities and controls my team put in place to protect the organisation from financial and data loss.”

– Cyber threat intelligence and incident specialist Adnan Mohd Shukor, 35

“When I enrolled in my course at Taylor’s University, the buzz was about the scalability and necessity for cybersecurity as global companies were pushing and talking a lot about its importance. Now, at a multinational IT services company, I work to provide business-to-business solutions to Korean customers for their VPN and proxy server network system cybersecurity needs. The most exciting part of my job is the ability to constantly learn new skills like secure applications for cloud systems.” – IT leverage team member Lee Seungjin, 33“I focus on threat hunting, discovering malware patterns, keeping track of current cyber threat activities, identifying malware activities, and guiding juniors on the job.”

– Cyber threat engineer Chaatish Rajandain, 25

“My role focuses on governance, risk and compliance where we assist with auditing, promote awareness of cyber security, and conduct assessments to make sure that projects comply with the organisation’s security criteria. I’m also a part of an academic programme where I get to learn more about cybersecurity, which helps me enhance my skills. Fresh grads can expect between RM3,000 and RM3,500, as their starting pay, while those who have experience can expect above RM4,000, depending on their experience.”

– Information security analyst Nivashini Madhavan, 26

“I provide assessment and recommendations to improve the overall digital and online security for clients. These security assessments include performing penetration testing on certain applications, devices and servers. Occasionally, I also perform phishing attacks to simulate a social engineering attack. The cybersecurity industry in Malaysia is a growing market and it will continue to develop rapidly over the next few years because as cyber attacks become more frequent, securing relevant infrastructures has become a primary concern for corporations, especially for major conglomerates. From my experience, a fresh graduate’s starting salary can range between RM2,500 and RM3,500. If you have additional professional certifications like the EC-Council, ISC2, ISACA and so on, your salary will likely be commensurate with your qualification. Cybersecurity is a very broad field. A security consultant just manages one aspect of it. Depending on the needs of an organisation and the specialisation of the graduate, the pay could be higher. It is very important to get the right start, especially during your university days. Choose a varsity that has the right experts in the relevant fields.”

– Security consultant Reuben Wong Chi Shing, 30