Empowering Cybersecurity Career Advancement in India

5/11/2021

By Raj Sivaraju, President of APAC

Companies around the world have long relied on India for cost-effective technical outsourcing. Thanks to the country’s abundance of highly trained technical talent, it’s been a successful support model. But like any successful business strategy, there’s always room for improvement. Particularly when it comes to security.

When NotPetya hit a few years ago, it should have been a global wake-up call. And now, if the SolarWinds attack has taught us anything, it’s that we can’t keep hitting the snooze button on cybersecurity. Like elsewhere, supply chain attacks — as well as ransomware and malware attacks — are a worrisome reality in India.

At Arete, we have an opportunity to tackle this challenge head-on and forge a new path — in a leading, not supporting role — to build strong, world-class defense capabilities for India’s businesses.

HOMEGROWN TALENT AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

It all starts with developing talent. At Arete, we give our employees the tools to advance their careers in a direction that makes sense for them and the company — no matter their geographical location.

To help fulfill this mission, we are bringing our North American cyber career model to India. Our aim is to seed organic growth, build local capacity, and create more leadership opportunities in-country. We believe that employees should be empowered to grow their cyber careers beyond IT support roles, without feeling compelled to emigrate elsewhere.

TAKING TECHNOLOGY SKILLS AND CAREERS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

It’s not necessary to know everything up front. Whether our employees begin in IT support, system administration, or digital forensics roles, Arete has programs designed to help them develop the cybersecurity skills they need to move from support to leadership roles.

We focus on an employee’s talents and interests, pair them with colleagues whose abilities complement theirs, and provide a framework for cross-functional collaboration that allows the whole team to build on one another’s strengths and learn new skills on the job.

BEYOND TECHNICAL SKILLS: WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE

Beyond the jumping-off point of technical degrees and certifications, it’s often the soft skills that will set an individual apart and above in this field. For success, a cybersecurity professional must possess a flexible mindset and the ability to adapt to changing situations, troubleshoot under pressure, and demonstrate tenacity through crises. They should also be able to proactively visualize attack vectors, high-value assets, layers of defense, and containment measures.

A well-rounded skill set will take you far. And whatever team you belong to at Arete, you can know your work will be generating data-driving intelligence that directly supports the discovery of brand-new indicators of compromise (IoCs). As your skill sets mature, you will be expected to assert yourself in what will often be actual business-saving endeavors throughout India. And you’ll be able to see how your threat hunts and searches for anomalous behavior and new activity will enable clients not only react to cyberattacks, but proactively stop them.

If you have a desire to help protect Indian businesses from corrupt cybercriminals, consider joining the Arete team in one of our currently open positions. Here, you’ll be surrounded by the best and brightest in the field. Professionals who can and will help you take your career to the highest level.