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What Is an Incident Response Analyst and How to Become One


What Does an Incident Response Analyst Do?

An incident response analyst works with an incident response team to identify and monitor security threats to an organization’s cyber systems. Your responsibilities as an incident response analyst are to prevent escalation of severe security threats, provide reports to the organization’s security team, utilize tools to minimize the effects of a security breach on the computer network, and perform an analysis to ensure that the organization’s computer network is clear of threats. Your duties also include implementing and optimizing security tools to prevent the same security issues from happening again. You may communicate with law enforcement about security threats if necessary.

How to to Become an Incident Response Analyst

The qualifications you need to become an incident response analyst include a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, such as computer science or cybersecurity. You also need at least two or three years of relevant job experience. You need an outstanding command of various networking technologies, such as HTTP, HTTPS, and SSL, and a thorough understanding of Windows, Mac/OS, and Linux operating systems. Obtaining a certification in a relevant field, such as the Certified Reverse Engineering Analyst (CREA) or GIAC Certified Incident Handler (GCIH) accreditations, can help you prove your skills in handling threats and detecting vulnerabilities. You can find incident response analyst jobs with tech-forward organizations and financial institutions.