Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Cybersecurity Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

A Cybersecurity Analyst is responsible for monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to security threats across on‑premises and cloud environments. This role blends hands‑on technical investigation with clear written and verbal reporting, process improvement, and stakeholder communication. The Analyst protects business assets by operating detection and response tooling (SIEM, EDR, SOAR), executing incident response playbooks, conducting vulnerability assessments, and collaborating with IT, engineering, and compliance teams to reduce risk and harden systems.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

IT Support Technician with security responsibilities and exposure to logging/endpoint tools
Network Administrator or Network Engineer with hands‑on firewall and IDS/IPS experience
Junior SOC Analyst / SOC Tier 1 Analyst

Advancement To:

Senior Cybersecurity Analyst / SOC Tier 3 Analyst
Incident Response Lead / Threat Hunter
Security Architect / Cloud Security Engineer
Information Security Manager or CISO (long-term)

Lateral Moves:

Penetration Tester / Red Team Specialist
Threat Intelligence Analyst
Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Analyst
Cloud Security Specialist (AWS/Azure/GCP)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Monitor security telemetry across SIEM, EDR, firewall, proxy, cloud logs, and application logs to detect anomalous activity and security incidents, triaging alerts to determine severity and scope.
Investigate security incidents end‑to‑end: collect and preserve forensic artifacts, conduct root cause analysis, document timelines, and recommend containment, eradication, and recovery actions in accordance with the incident response plan.
Triage and escalate security events through a documented SOC workflow, ensuring accurate ticketing, timely communication to stakeholders, and adherence to SLA targets for detection and response.
Perform proactive threat hunting using MITRE ATT&CK, threat intelligence feeds, and adversary behavior analytics to discover stealthy intrusions or suspicious patterns not detected by automated tools.
Maintain and tune SIEM correlation rules, detection use cases, and dashboarding to reduce false positives, increase signal‑to‑noise ratio, and improve mean time to detection (MTTD).
Administer and operate endpoint detection and response (EDR) platforms (e.g., CrowdStrike, Carbon Black, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint), performing containment actions, rollback, and remediation guidance when needed.
Conduct vulnerability scanning and asset risk assessments using tools such as Nessus, Qualys, or OpenVAS; analyze scan results and prioritize remediation in collaboration with IT patching teams.
Execute threat intelligence ingestion, enrichment, and integration workflows to operationalize indicators of compromise (IOCs) and automate blocking or monitoring in security controls.
Develop, review, and refine incident response playbooks, runbooks, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to improve consistency and reproducibility during security events.
Lead or support tabletop exercises, incident simulations, and real‑time drills to validate processes, enhance response readiness, and identify gaps for remediation.
Configure and maintain network security controls (firewalls, IDS/IPS, web proxies, DLP) and review rule bases to align network enforcement with threat detection and mitigation strategies.
Perform malware analysis and reverse engineering at a triage level to identify indicators, persistence mechanisms, and recommended remediation steps, escalating to specialized teams when needed.
Integrate, maintain, and operate Security Orchestration, Automation and Response (SOAR) playbooks to automate repetitive tasks like enrichment, blocking, or containment to improve SOC efficiency.
Work with cloud engineers to identify misconfigurations, enforce secure baselines, and respond to cloud‑native incidents across AWS, Azure, or GCP using cloud logging and security services (CloudTrail, Azure Sentinel, Cloud Security Posture Management).
Conduct logging and telemetry strategy reviews to ensure adequate coverage, retention, and correlation across critical systems and applications to support detection and forensic investigations.
Provide guidance and technical support during system hardening, secure configuration, and infrastructure changes to ensure security is embedded into change management and deployment processes.
Generate clear, actionable incident postmortems and executive summaries with timeline, impact, root cause, remediation, and lessons learned to drive continuous improvements.
Collaborate with application and DevOps teams to review CI/CD security controls, scan container images, and integrate scanning and secrets management into pipelines.
Maintain evidence chain and compliance documentation required for regulatory reporting (PCI‑DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) and internal audits relating to security incidents.
Participate in vendor evaluations, proof‑of‑concepts, and tooling selection for security monitoring, detection, and response to ensure investments align with threat profile and operational maturity.
Mentor junior analysts and contribute to SOC knowledge base articles, detection playbooks, runbooks, and training material to elevate team capability and accelerate onboarding.
Monitor and report key security metrics and KPIs (MTTD, MTTR, detection coverage, containment time) to leadership and use data to guide tooling and process investments.
Coordinate with legal, HR, and communications during breaches to align on regulatory notifications, customer communication, and contractual/cyber insurance requirements.
Stay current with threat actor TTPs, zero‑days, CVEs, and industry advisories; proactively update detection logic and controls to address emerging threats.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc security assessments, risk analysis, and exploratory investigations requested by internal business units.
Contribute to the organization's security strategy and roadmap by recommending new detections, control enhancements, and automation opportunities.
Collaborate with cross‑functional teams (IT, engineering, legal, compliance) to translate security requirements into operational controls and engineering work packages.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the security engineering and SOC teams to prioritize detection engineering, automation, and remediation work.
Produce training sessions and awareness materials for end users on phishing, secure practices, and incident reporting to reduce organizational risk.
Assist with vendor and third‑party security reviews, service provider risk assessments, and contract security requirements.
Document system architecture and data flow diagrams to improve visibility for security monitoring and control placement.
Provide forensic data to law enforcement when required, following legal and organizational guidelines and chain‑of‑custody procedures.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Strong experience with SIEM platforms (e.g., Splunk, IBM QRadar, Elastic SIEM, Microsoft Sentinel) including search/query language, rule creation, and dashboarding.
Hands‑on experience with EDR tools (CrowdStrike Falcon, Carbon Black, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, SentinelOne) for detection, containment, and remediation.
Proficient in incident response methodologies, digital forensics fundamentals, evidence preservation, and chain‑of‑custody practices.
Practical knowledge of threat hunting techniques and mapping detections to MITRE ATT&CK framework.
Experience with vulnerability management tools (Nessus, Qualys, Rapid7) and vulnerability remediation prioritization based on risk and exploitability.
Familiarity with cloud security fundamentals and tooling (AWS CloudTrail, GuardDuty, Azure Sentinel, GCP Logging) and hardening of cloud environments.
Working knowledge of network security controls (firewalls, IDS/IPS, load balancers), packet analysis, PCAP interpretation, and common network protocols (TCP/IP, DNS, HTTP).
Scripting and automation skills (Python, PowerShell, Bash) for log parsing, automation of playbooks, and integration with SOAR tools.
Experience with endpoint and server operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS) and associated logs, artifacts, and remediation techniques.
Understanding of cryptography basics, PKI, secure communications, and authentication mechanisms (SAML, OAuth, MFA).
Familiarity with regulatory and compliance frameworks (NIST CSF, ISO 27001, PCI‑DSS, HIPAA, GDPR) and their implications for monitoring and reporting.
Ability to configure and manage security orchestration and automation tools (SOAR) to streamline response and enrichment workflows.
Knowledge of application security basics, container security, and CI/CD pipeline scanning (SAST, DAST, SCA).
Experience with malware analysis tools and sandboxing platforms for triage-level behavior analysis.
Practical experience with logging frameworks, log retention strategies, and centralized log aggregation best practices.

Soft Skills

Strong analytical and investigative mindset with attention to detail to identify subtle indicators of compromise and correlate disparate signals.
Clear written and verbal communication skills for crafting incident reports, executive summaries, and technical documentation.
Ability to prioritize under pressure and manage multiple incidents or investigations concurrently while maintaining accuracy.
Collaborative team player who can work with engineering, product, legal, and executive stakeholders to remediate issues and implement controls.
Continuous learner mindset and curiosity to stay current with rapidly changing threat landscapes and security tooling.
Sound ethical judgment and professional integrity when handling sensitive security issues and confidential data.
Problem solving and critical thinking skills to recommend pragmatic mitigations and long‑term corrective actions.
Training and mentoring capability to upskill junior team members and build institutional knowledge.
Customer‑oriented attitude when supporting internal teams and providing security guidance that balances risk and productivity.
Resilience and stress tolerance in handling high‑pressure incident situations and potentially long shifts during active responses.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Cybersecurity, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Cybersecurity, Information Security, Computer Science, or related field.
Relevant industry certifications such as CISSP, CISM, GCIA, GCIH, CompTIA Security+, CEH, or cloud security certifications (AWS Certified Security, Azure Security Engineer).

Relevant Fields of Study:

Cybersecurity / Information Security
Computer Science / Computer Engineering
Information Systems / Network Engineering
Digital Forensics / Incident Response

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–5 years of hands‑on cybersecurity experience (SOC, incident response, threat hunting, or vulnerability management).

Preferred: 3–7+ years with demonstrated experience in a Security Operations Center or incident response team, proficiency with SIEM and EDR tooling, and exposure to cloud security operations.