How to Become a Cloud Security Engineer

When you're starting out as a newbie in any field, the hardest part— ironically—is figuring out where to start in the first place. Cloud security is no different. How do you learn cloud security? What are the best cloud security courses to start with?

There are tons of super-important questions you're probably having right now. But that's a good thing! It means you're ready to learn, and when you know exactly where to take your first step, you're going to be on track to building your career as a cloud security engineer.

But first — why choose a career in Cloud Security?

Cloud security is one of the fastest-growing fields of cybersecurity. Valued at $6.76 billion in 2019, the cloud security market is expected to grow to $12.73 billion by 2022. That's near double the growth in just 3 years!

Clearly there's a huge market for cloud security in general, but it gets better: more than 76% of leaders say they're facing a serious shortage of cybersecurity skills.

Whether you're a developer considering a career in AppSec, or a security engineer looking to switch your area of expertise, this presents a MASSIVE career opportunity for those willing to learn cloud security and make the leap.

Okay. Let's assume you're ready to start your new career and can't wait to take some cloud security courses. Hold up a sec! There's some questions you'll need the answers to before you go all-in.

What does a Cloud Security engineer do?

Cloud Security is all the strategies, technologies, and practices used to secure and protect data and applications hosted in the cloud. If cloud security is the how, cloud security engineers are the who. Cloud security engineers are the people who are setting up those technologies and strategies. They're the ones who find out where the application is vulnerable and figure out a way to eliminate those weaknesses.

An effective cloud security strategy is often the only thing standing between the application and potential attackers. That security strategy comes in many different forms.

Roles and responsibilities of Cloud Security engineers

• Create cloud-based programs
• Performing threat simulations and penetration tests to identify and detect possible risks
• Managing cryptography and encryption of data in the cloud
• Logging, monitoring, and responding to detected incidents in the cloud environment
• Investigate, create, and recommend technologies or methods to enhance the security of cloud-based environments

What skills do you need to be a Cloud Security expert?

Depending on what exactly their job profile is, a cloud security engineer can require a number of varied skills across multiple disciplines. But there are a number of prerequisite skills that all candidates for a job in cloud security must have. Here's a few of those:

• Knowledge of cloud security fundamentals
  This might seem obvious, but it bears repeating. As someone looking for a career in this field, you need to be totally solid in your understanding of the fundamentals of cloud security. That includes things like cloud architecture, encryption, access control, common AWS services, etc.
• Understanding of programming languages
  Considering you're working with apps written in these languages, you need to know how to code in programming languages like Python, C++, Java, and C#.
• Troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
  A large part of any security job is problem-solving and incident management. This means you're going to constantly be monitoring your network for anomalies and fixing any security issues that come your way.
• Communication skills
  Most of us tend to underestimate the importance of communication and people skills, but they go a long way in helping you manage team members and people working with you to build the app. When you collaborate better with people, the entire pipeline becomes much more efficient and frictionless.

How do you train for a Certified Cloud Security Professional (CCSP) certification?

For cloud security engineers, a Certified Cloud Security Profession (CCSP) certification is practically a requirement. By passing the exam, you can get a certification that tells potential employers you're ready to take on challenges in the fundamentals of cloud security.

AppSecEngineer offers AWS Security courses in 5 distinct domains of cloud security to train you for your career. From AWS Serverless app security and Secrets management, to AWS Network security, IAM, and S3, it has everything you need to learn cloud security and build some serious skills.

Note: AppSecEngineer's cloud security courses are not official material to prepare for the CCSP, but will greatly improve your ability to get certified successfully.

What is the best way to learn Cloud Security?

Multiple studies have confirmed that the best way to learn anything is through hands-on training. When you learn by doing, you activate parts of the brain that promote better retention of the material.

All our cloud security courses are built around the concept of hands-on learning. We use labs and cyber-ranges with step-by-step instructions so you can practice new skills to mastery. Instead of just watching video lessons, you get to try out what you learn along with your instructors. It's way more fun, engaging, and effective.
It's the best way to refine your cloud security fundamentals and practice more advanced skills. You can try it for free and experience real hands-on AWS security courses. Take the free trial today (no credit card required).