Join the hunt for cyber threats

IT experience not needed

CYBER security threat hunters are in strong demand and being hired from a surprising range of backgrounds.

Skill shortages for the niche role have forced employers to cast their nets wider than the information technology community, sourcing workers trained in areas from creative arts to medicine and physics.

Microsoft director of security Ryan McGee describes threat hunters as cyber security professionals focused on pre-empting cyber attacks rather than responding to incidents.

He says automation and machine learning has freed up workers that previously conducted routine data analysis to investigate suspicious activity before it becomes an attack.

“Even if an incident hasn’t occurred, there’s just something suspicious going on, they now have the time to investigate,” he said.

McGee gives the example of a US-based user who does not typically work weekends logging into multiple devices on a Sunday in Istanbul.

‘‘ THE BASIC JOB DESCRIPTION IS YOU NEED TO BE INTENSELY CURIOUS, REALLY CREATIVE ABOUT WAYS OF BREAKING THINGS AND … SUPER PARANOID ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU SEE.

RYAN MCGEE

“Now that they’ve freed up some of their time with this automation capability, (hunters) can poke at that a little bit,” he said.

If the user’s identity does not check out, the hunter can look into past activity on the device. Ultimately, they may present evidence to law enforcement and bring the attacker to justice.

“It’s a pretty hot space,” McGee said.

“There’s a global talent shortage … and (employers) are starting to get very creative.”

The traditional path is to study computer science at university then specialise in cyber security and climb ranks from help desk jobs and resetting

passwords to learning more about investigations. Now, employers are looking for hunters everywhere.

“The basic job description is you need to be intensely curious, really creative about ways of breaking things and … super

paranoid about everything you see,” McGee said.

“They’re looking for people straight out of university, people

that have skipped university and gone into other careers, people in the creative arts space. It’s not too late.”