Page 40 - Cybersecurity Career Guide for North Dakota

careers: Cybersecurity Companies
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IBM Security Headquarters in Cambridge, MA
Cyber Specialists for Hire
Companies that provide cybersecurity services to both government and industry can be a great career option.
Okay, let’s cut to the chase:
A career in the cybersecurity industry can do wonders for your bank account.
In 2019, when Ashley Richardson- Sequeira started at Palo Alto Networks, one of the country’s leading cybersecu- rity companies, she was a recent com-
munity college graduate who had picked up a few certifications in cybersecurity, was working in retail and earning around $17 an hour, after taxes. Once joining Palo Alto, her after-tax income immedi- ately jumped to $30 an hour. “One of the huge benefits (of working in the cy- bersecurity industry) is that you will typically be well compensated for your work,” says Richardson-Sequeira, who is now 33 and a senior technical trainer for security operations at Palo Alto.
Here’s why the industry can afford to pay top salaries: The global cybersecu- rity market’s worth will top $156 billion this year and mushroom to more than
$240 billion by 2025, according to one recent report. It’s an industry whose goods and services are in high demand because there’s no shortage of bad guys—criminal hackers are constantly attacking the computer systems of businesses of every stripe, as well as everyone else’s, including federal, state, and local government agencies, univer- sities, and medical providers. Cyberse- curity companies like Palo Alto, IBM, and McAfee are major players in the nonstop efforts to thwart cyberattacks. They develop hardware, software, and strat- egies to protect networks, data, and de- vices from hacks that aim to steal, lock