How to Grow Your Cybersecurity Skills, According to Experts
How to Grow Your Cybersecurity Skills, According to Experts
Publish Date: 2026-03-27 05:00:00
Source Domain: www.securitymagazine.com
This month, Security magazine is celebrating our Top Cybersecurity Leaders of 2026. This award celebrates the dynamic, talented professionals that innovate the cybersecurity field and spearhead change within their organizations.
As we’ve recognized these esteemed professionals throughout March, I wanted to take a closer look at how cybersecurity leaders are developing their careers for the modern era. Particularly, I wanted greater insights into three common, key areas of career development:
- Education and/or certifications
- “Soft skills”
- Networking
Outside of those conventional areas of career development, I also wanted to see what unique paths cyber professionals are seeking to improve their career standing. So, I reached out to Daniela Giannini, Senior Security Engineer at Black Duck, and Shane Barney, Chief Information Security Officer at Keeper Security, to hear their perspective on how cybersecurity workers should grow their career.
How to Grow Your Cybersecurity Skills
Security magazine: What education or certification(s) can support a successful career in cybersecurity?
Giannini: The world of cybersecurity is an extremely broad and, at times, complex environment. Looking back a few years, cybersecurity was based almost exclusively on the network: ‘everything inside the corporate network is trusted; everything outside is untrusted.’ Today, this perimeter-based model is no longer sufficient. We now operate in an interconnected ecosystem distributed across cloud environments, mobile devices, IoT, and increasingly enriched by elements of artificial intelligence.
For those who want to approach cybersecurity, the first step is to identify a macro-area of interest. Web application security, AI application security, and OT/IoT security, for example, require different skill sets and approaches. Despite these specializations, there is a common foundational knowledge base that is essential for anyone starting this journey: networking concepts…
