The responsibility of keeping Americans safe from malicious hackers and existential online threats often falls on the shoulders of several federal agencies, including the FBI, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security. The latter of these agencies is easily the most recent arrival on the scene, but that doesn’t limit the extensive responsibilities placed on the agency to keep Americans safe and find out about major threats, online and off, before they take lives, steal information, and cause offline or digital chaos. Graduates of a computer science degree program will find plenty of excellent job openings with the Department of Homeland Security, many of which blur the lines between offline threats and online pursuit of those who make them.
Jobs at Homeland Security: Welcome to America’s Cybersecurity Team
Like the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security has created an entire department, known as its Cybersecurity Team, that is focused exclusively on tracking online threats, using the Internet to find those who make other kinds of threats, and obtaining records, intelligence, and online accounts, that belong to real or suspected terrorists. The positions within this team are extensive, and each of them is focused on a different area of national security in the digital world. Here’s a look at what graduates can expect when they peruse job opportunities with the agency after graduation:
– Digital Forensics Positions
Digital forensics in the Department of Homeland Security often means using an online “trail” of accounts, logins, credit card payments and more, to find someone who poses a real and present threat to online or offline national security. Computer science graduates will use their knowledge of systems and digital data to trace IP addresses, access accounts, trace payment information, and make it easier for other agents to track down and eliminate a threat.
– Cyber Incident Response
While forensics focuses primarily on identifying a threat and eliminating it before it turns into something more damaging, those who engage in cyber incident response will get to work as soon as a malicious hacking incident or another threat actually takes place. Whether it’s a hacking incident that affects consumers or a national security breach that results in the loss of key federal documents, these positions focus on using key pieces of information to identify the perpetrator, determine their present location, and bring them to justice.
– Risk and Analysis
The best way to prevent a malicious hacking attempt is to be proactive and close any potential security holes before they’re discovered by outside groups. That’s where the risk and analysis group comes in. This team of computer scientists will assess the security of federal systems and look for real security risks. They’ll then prepare a report that recommends fixes for enhanced security. They may make those changes themselves, or they might pass them off to a different team within the agency.
– Network and Systems Engineering
These computer science graduates take the recommendations of the team above and turn them into real results that boost the security of federal servers and applications. They usually have a deeper background in programming or network management, allowing them to make the changes easily and a bit more quickly than those whose focus is mostly on analysis or detective work.
Many Great Opportunities Await Computer Science Graduates at DHS
From network protection to the real-time tracking of digital threats to national security, those who graduate from a top computer science program will find a large number of long-term opportunities within the Department of Homeland Security. With a variety of specialties, virtually every computer science student will be able to leverage their concentration for the benefit of all 310 million Americans.
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