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Washington ranked top city for cybersecurity jobs
Techshielder analysed several metrics including salary, job availability and cost of living to find the best place to live for cybersecurity experts as well as the most in-demand skills in 2021.
Washington DC, Singapore, Berlin, and Luxembourg have emerged as the leading cities to work in cybersecurity in a global study.
Washington DC has been named the best city for cybersecurity jobs thanks to its many job opportunities and high average salary, while Singapore has the highest job availability for cybersecurity professionals, and in Luxembourg they command the highest salaries.
In-demand skills
The study from online security website Techshielder analysed the number of cybersecurity-related jobs available on Indeed and Glassdoor to determine the cities with the most cybersecurity jobs. Several metrics were used including average salary, job availability and cost of living to find the best place to live for cybersecurity experts as well as the most in-demand skills to learn in 2021.
Scoring a total score of 17.58, Washington DC ranks second for job availability for those looking to work in the cybersecurity sector, balanced with the high average salary of £84,628, Techshielder notes this city is a great contender for those looking to work in the industry.
Singapore has the highest number of cybersecurity jobs with a job availability of 10, followed by Washington DC with London rounding out the top three (7.17 and 5.3 job availability scores respectively).
At the other end of the scale was Islamabad, Pakistan, where the study found “very limited” opportunity for those in the field. Scoring a job availability score of just 1.01 this city has the fewest number of jobs available for cybersecurity professionals.
“If you are looking to relocate for a job, it’s important to take in many factors such as the cost of living and your expected salary, as all of these play a role in how suitable the role is for you”
The city of Luxembourg has the highest average salary but while cybersecurity professionals can earn six-figure sums, this is offset by the high cost of living.
At the other end of the scale, is Abuja in Nigeria. With a salary of just £1,758.30, this city has the lowest income for cybersecurity specialists.
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“The world of cybersecurity is booming right now and with the field continuing to grow, cybersecurity jobs are in high demand,” said Lasse Walstad, cofounder at Techshielder.
“If you are looking to relocate for a job, it’s important to take in many factors such as the cost of living and your expected salary, as all of these play a role in how suitable the role is for you.”
He added: “The cities mentioned aren’t the only places, however, they do represent the best opportunities that await cybersecurity professionals.”
In addition, the research also examined the most in-demand skills which were:
- Network: one of the most in-demand skills and maybe one of the most important one for anyone in cybersecurity is networking – understanding how networks allows for better comprehension of how things work behind the scenes
- Threats: threat intelligence ranks as the second most in-demand skill in 2021 – being able to evaluate threats and prevent or mitigate cyberattacks
- Compliance: from the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to the California Consumer Privacy Act, companies need employees who can assess the risk and understand the paperwork and security protocols needed to keep personal data safe
- Cloud: more companies are moving to cloud infrastructure and experts need to be able to arrange, organise and monitor virtualised environments such as SaaS, PaaS or IaaS to protect data from being deleted, leaked or even stolen.
A full breakdown of the findings can be found here.
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How does Washington DC balance salary and job availability in cybersecurity?What factors make Singapore the top city for cybersecurity job availability?How do compliance skills impact cybersecurity roles under GDPR and CCPA?Why is networking considered a critical skill for cybersecurity professionals?How does cloud expertise enhance protection of virtualized data environments?BerlincybersecurityFeaturedGovernance and CitizenLuxembourgPeople and SkillsSingaporeUSAWashington DC
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