Instant Incentive: Exploring the Ethical Hacker Salary Options

According to the 2019 Official Annual Cybercrime Report, the annual global cost of cybercrime will exceed $6 trillion by 2021 which is 2X the cost ($3 trillion) from 2015. The same report also predicts that a business will get attacked through ransomware every 14 seconds by 2019, and by 2021 the pace of attacks will increase to 11 seconds.

Hackers have certainly gained infamy for being the bad guys, that use unsavory tactics to make bad things happen. However, you can’t put all hackers in one camp, some hackers, use their skills and expertise only for good. These hackers are called ethical hackers/white-hat hackers/pen testers.

Who is an Ethical Hacker?

An ethical hacker is a skilled professional hired for their excellent technical and non-technical skill and expertise, used in identifying and dealing with exploits/vulnerabilities, on target systems and networks. What fundamentally makes an ethical hacker different from the much-feared ‘black-hat’ hacker, is the fact that the ethical hacker works with the permission of the system or network owners.

The ethical hacker must not only comply with any rules that the system/network owners see fit but also the laws of the land. The white-hackers main aim is to assess the security posture of an organization or business. In the formal security industry, an ethical hacker is more commonly referred to as a Cyber Security Specialist.

What are the Responsibilities of an Ethical Hacker?

Below are some of the duties of Ethical Hacker:

• To define and classify system and network resources
• To assign the relative level of importance to the above resources
• To identify potential threats to the respective resources
• To develop a strategy for dealing with and prioritizing serious potential problems
• To define and implement ways of minimizing the consequences of an attack
• To perform tests on target resources including web resources, hardware, and software
• To keep all systems updated and apply the latest vendor patches and service packs
• To creatively develop new strategies that can counter new hacking methodologies and mitigate all possible threats
• To prepare current security profile reports and document the reports as a reference for any uninvited incidents
• To regularly monitor system and network resources for potential threats.
• To design and implement security-related policies and make sure that the policies are enforced correctly

Image Source - Sytechlabs

Why are ethical hackers in demand?

When data is not kept secure, it is not a matter of IF, but rather WHEN, this data will be compromised. According to Manu Sharma (Head of Cybersecurity at Grant Thornton UK), ‘vigilance alone won’t keep businesses safe.’

He further elaborates by saying that businesses that take cybersecurity seriously are not just protecting their data and their customer's data, but they are also securing their competitive edge over other companies in their industry that haven’t done so.

For the majority of decision-makers that are not technology experts in the corporate world, a threat to the organization's competitive edge is quite a compelling reason to take action and take cybersecurity seriously right away.

Ethical hackers are systems and network experts in fending off cyber-attacks and this, therefore, puts them at the front line when it comes to preventing cyber-attacks. In the UK for example, JOBLIFT, reports that the demand for jobs in ethical hacking increased by 3X the rate of supply. (The average monthly increase in ethical hacking job vacancies was up 4% while the average monthly increase in demand for the jobs rose by 12%).

Other reasons for the increase in demand include:

• The increasing adoption of cloud computing coupled with inconsistencies associated with security patching  
• Ransomware and other threats are consistently becoming more sophisticated
• Increased budgetary allocations towards cybersecurity (global spending on cybersecurity will exceed $1 trillion between 2017 and 2021)
• The number of internet users keeps increasing (There were nearly 4 billion Internet users in 2018 (roughly half of the world’s population of 7.7 billion), up from 2 billion in 2015.

Future of being an Ethical Hacker

As the number of cyber-threats increases, and the demand for cyber-security increases as well, the need for ethical hackers is also set to try and keep up. In short, the future of ethical hacking jobs is secured for the foreseeable future because no organization/business wants to be left vulnerable.

How to master Ethical Hacking?

There are several paths that you could take to become a master at ethical hacking. No single path can be said to be the ultimate path to follow. There are just too many factors, (including personal preferences and character traits) to take into consideration when choosing the best route.

That said, a highly recommended path to follow should be based on the most critical skills that need to be cultivated. Here is a path that you can follow:

Understand basic networking concepts

Basic networking concepts should be a good starting point because you will learn how different protocols enable different possibilities to connect to a system remotely. As such, you will also learn how to shut down these ports and keep away attackers. A course that you could take to help you with this is CompTIA Network+ Certification.

Other courses to help you along the journey

After the Networking certification training, other cybersecurity training courses that you could take include:

• Ethical Hacking Certification
• CISSP®- Certified Information Systems Security Professional
• CISM®- Certified Information Security Manager
• CCSP-Certified Cloud Security Professional
• CISA®- Certified Information Systems Auditor
• CRISC®- Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control
• COBIT®5- Control Objectives for Information and Related Technologies
• CHFI-Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator Certification course
• CND-Certified Network Defender course

Alternatively, you could simply pursue the Cyber Security Master’s Certification and accomplish several of the above certifications in one convenient package.

By the time you have completed CISSP and CEH (V10), which are both quite advanced, you will be able to find a job that affords you a good living in most countries.

Salary trends for Ethical Hacking with CEH certification in 6 different countries

1) Ethical Hacker salary in the USA

Average CEH salary: $90K

Average salary by skill/specialty

Top employers/companies hiring

• Booz, Allen, and Hamilton  $67,470 - $101,389
• U.S. Army $32,133 - $86,327
• U.S. Air Force (USAF)  $49,029 - $81,490
• General Dynamics Information Technology Inc  $59,045 - $104,805
• Lockheed Martin Corp $69,043 - $113,000

Other stats

Popular Cities

• Washington, District of Columbia $67,000 - $126,121
• New York, New York $50,143 - $124,608
• San Antonio, Texas $51,456 - $90,999
• Atlanta, Georgia $49,550 - $110,936
• San Diego, California $76,754 - $121,694

Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year 3%
• 1-4 years 30%
• 5-9 years 27%
• 10-19 years 30%
• 20 years or more 9%

Gender

• Female: 8 %   $54,767 - $103,344
• Male: 92 %    $56,169 - $115,246

Job satisfaction:

Extremely satisfied (Rated 5 out of 5, based on 873 votes.)



2) Ethical Hacker salary in INDIA

Average CEH salary: Rs 599K

Average salary by skill/specialty

Top employers/companies hiring

• Paladion Networks Rs 214,551 - Rs 509,714
• Wipro Technologies Ltd. Rs 101,980 - Rs 800,000
• Tata Consultancy Services Limited Rs 290,874 - Rs 630,000
• EY (Ernst & Young) Rs 316,266 - Rs 752,553
• InfoSys Limited Rs 121,641 - Rs 910,630

Other stats

Popular Cities

• Bangalore, Karnataka Rs 256,635 - Rs 1,133,880
• Mumbai, Maharashtra Rs 218,305 - Rs 1,072,867
• Chennai, Tamil Nadu Rs 241,957 - Rs 913,540
• Pune, Maharashtra Rs 254,028 - Rs 1,043,389
• Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Rs 236,718 - Rs 982,635

Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year 15%
• 1-4 years 48%
• 5-9 years 23%
• 10-19 years 13%
• 20 years or more 1%

Gender

• Female:  6% Rs 292,954 - Rs 1,012,125
• Male: 94%    Rs 254,342 - Rs 1,160,171

Job satisfaction:

Highly satisfied (Rated 4 out of 5, based on 16 votes.)

Related job salaries in India

3) Ethical Hacker salary in Canada

Average CEH salary: C$73K

Average salary by skill/specialty

Top employers/companies hiring

• PricewaterhouseCoopers C$67,000
• RBC Bank C$69,490
• Rogers Communications Inc. C$70,829

Other stats

Popular Cities

• Toronto, Ontario C$50,147 - C$97,732
• Montréal, Québec C$51,500 - C$88,000
• Moncton, New Brunswick C$108,000
• Ottawa, Ontario C$70,000
• Vancouver, British Columbia C$84,000

Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year 7%
• 1-4 years 36%
• 5-9 years 21%
• 10-19 years 27%
• 20 years or more 9%

Gender

• Female:  8% C$47,500 - C$82,500
• Male: 92%    C$49,316 - C$95,478

Job satisfaction:

Extremely satisfied (Rated 5 out of 5, based on 26 votes)

Are you interested to be a network security manager? Get the Certified Ethical Hacker Training and snag that job!

4) Ethical Hacker salary in Australia

Average CEH salary: AU$101K

Average salary by skill/specialty

Top employers/companies hiring

• EY (Ernst & Young) AU$125,000
• Deloitte AU$143,364
• The Chemist Warehouse AU$55,000

Other stats

Popular Cities

• Sydney, New South Wales AU$55,284 - AU$133,346
• Melbourne, Victoria AU$53,327 - AU$145,216

Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year 2%
• 1-4 years 36%
• 5-9 years 30%
• 10-19 years 27%
• 20 years or more 4%

Gender

• Female:  10% AU$62,600 - AU$95,000
• Male: 90%    AU$55,369 - AU$136,857

Job satisfaction:

No data

5) Ethical Hacker salary in Singapore

Average CEH salary: S$67K

Average salary by skill/specialty

Top employers/companies hiring

• E-cop S$57,718
• Lazada Group S$112,565

Other stats

Popular Cities

• Singapore S$26,093 - S$84,404

Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year 6%
• 1-4 years 30%
• 5-9 years 29%
• 10-19 years 26%

Gender

• Female:  4% S$49,400
• Male: 96%    S$26,128 - S$110,933

Job satisfaction:

Extremely satisfied (Rated 5 out of 5, based on 3 votes.)

6) Ethical Hacker salary in UAE

Average CEH salary: AED 177K

Average salary by skill/specialty

Top employers/companies hiring

• Paladion Networks AED 166,268
• Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank AED 450,000
• Tata Consultancy Services Limited AED 115,800

Other stats

Popular Cities

• Dubai AED 60,678 - AED 301,674
• Abu Dhabi AED 52,586 - AED 305,209

Years of Experience

• Less than 1 year 4%
• 1-4 years 34%
• 5-9 years 34%
• 10-19 years 26%
• 20 years or more 1%

Gender

• Female:  5% AED 180,000
• Male: 95%    AED 58,826 - AED 295,717

Job satisfaction:

No data

Conclusion

Considering the above salary trends, we can conclude that Ethical Hackers are highly paid and are in huge demand across the world. If the information provided so far has answered all your questions related to ethical hacking as a career choice, you can go ahead and begin your journey in cybersecurity. You can also leave a comment for adding or suggesting any relevant information related to ethical hacking.