A growing demand

Recently, there has been a sharp increase in the number of cyberattacks in Poland. Virtually anyone can become a victim of them — from politicians (the notorious e-mail hacks), through companies, to the average Joe.

A MATTER OF CONCERN

At the beginning of December, Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki signed the ordinance introducing the first ALFA-CRP alert level regarding the whole Polish cyberspace. It is related to the organization of the UN Digital Summit — IGF 2021, which took place in Katowice where several thousand people from all over the world discussed the opportunities and challenges posed by the internet as well as the associated threats. Because these may already concern us all.

Do you still think that scammers only target the elderly, extorting money from them by using the “granddaughter” or “policeman” scam? Nothing could be more wrong. The scammers moved online a long time ago and are trying their hand there by extorting users via Netflix, for instance, or e-commerce sites such as Allegro, Vinted, or OLX, as well as through fake banking websites. All this is related to the fact that the number of non-cash transactions is growing every year. The pandemic, having us locked up at home, has significantly accelerated this trend. This situation is exploited by cybercriminals who follow where the money is transferred. At the same time, they are getting more and more dangerous and — unfortunately — more and more effective in extracting our confidential data such as credit card numbers, e-mail addresses, logins, or passwords, and then monetizing them in any way possible.

SECURITY IS IMPORTANT

Online security has become crucial. After all, the entire system is only as secure as its weakest link. That is why investing in cybersecurity is so important these days. How can you improve in this regard? By training, of course, and also by employing cybersecurity specialists. And more and more of these are in demand. Polish companies have approximately 17,500 vacancies in positions in the field of cybersecurity. There are as many as 3 million such specialists in the world.

The demand is so great that companies do not expect candidates to be particularly experienced in the field. The advertisements that appear on the Just Join IT job board usually refer to junior specialists with up to three years of experience in the industry. Polish cybersecurity specialists usually have a track record in the IT industry as testers, developers, or data administrators. The earnings? On average, approximately PLN 15,000 per month. The most experienced can hope to get as much as PLN 50,000 gross.

How to get started in cybersecurity? There are many online courses available and a lot of interesting literature worth studying. Poland-based IT services company Sekurak's latest book, "Web Application Security" (in Polish: Bezpieczeństwo aplikacji webowych), which has recently been published, guides the beginners by the hand and then steadily moves on to more advanced topics. One can also find a lot of unique texts in it, for instance, regarding the beginning of the adventure with bug bounty programs or the legal aspects of offensive IT security.

Just Join IT is a Polish startup that is currently one of the fastest-growing job boards for the Polish IT industry. Piotr Nowosielski is its CEO.