We spoke to some top industry experts to find out what budding cybersecurity professionals need to know to stay ahead of the attackers.
Cybersecurity skills are increasingly in demand due to the growing attack surface, evolution of AI-powered threats and additional regulations.
Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com, Cyber Ireland’s Eoin Byrne said there’s a shortage of cybersecurity skills both in Ireland and across the world.
“Ireland has the potential to grow our cybersecurity sector employment from 8,000 jobs today to 17,000 by 2030,” he said.
“We need to have a pipeline of cybersecurity skills coming through our universities to meet the demand of industry and protect organisations, and a key ingredient of this are early career opportunities for graduates.”
So, what exactly are the most important skills and certifications and how can candidates shine? To find out, we spoke to some top cybersecurity experts.
Skills needed
John Healy is director of technical security at Yahoo in Ireland. He leads a consumer security group within ‘The Paranoids’ – Yahoo’s specialised cybersecurity team. He said he looks for curious people who love being detectives.
Beyond that, he said those interested should have knowledge of how malware works including how to detect it, reverse engineer it and block it, a solid understanding of how attackers take advantage of human behaviour, skills in analysing data and “folks who love to investigate and thwart even the craftiest of adversaries”.
“As for certifications, I like the CompTIA Security+ certification, which shows an understanding of threat vectors. The Certified Incident Handler certification tells me someone knows how best to handle incidents. If I’m hiring for a fraud prevention role, the Certified Fraud Examiner certification shows me they know their stuff,” he said.
“In 2025, cloud certifications or cloud knowledge is also important. While it is considered a management certification, the CISSP is good to earn. It shows hiring managers that you are serious about your career.”
Amanda Colreavy is director of product management and application security at Fidelity Investments Ireland. She said that while you can go broad or deep with skills in cybersecurity, a learning mindset, being a team player and strong communication skills are all useful for any role.
“Currently, we have several available opportunities, including platform engineers with experience in application security, DevOps and software development to enable us to integrate and operationalise our security tooling [and] software engineers with experience in the full secure software development lifecycle to build enterprise standard, scalable applications and streamline onboarding to our security tools through automation,” she said.
“We are also looking for squad leads, scrum masters and data analysts with excellent organisation, facilitation and communication skills. The common thread in all these roles is someone who is curious, passionate and motivated to contribute to a fast-paced and exciting product area.”
Pat Moran, head of cybersecurity and privacy at PwC Ireland spoke to SiliconRepublic.com last week about the hottest roles in the sector right now. For skills, he said curiosity, technical skills and analytical skills are good areas to focus on.
“A professional scepticism always helps! Master network security, programming (Python, C, etc), system administration, cryptography, cloud security and penetration testing. Hone threat analysis, incident response and attention to detail. Strong communication, teamwork and adaptability are crucial.”
He also said it’s important to stay updated with certifications and industry trends and have a strong knowledge of compliance laws.
Advice for aspiring detectives
Young cybersecurity professionals or those hoping to break into the industry need more than just the skills to stand out.
Healy said he often gives people a three-point plan to start their cybersecurity career: develop real-world skills, become a digital detective and build a practice of continuous learning.
“Don’t just read about cybersecurity, actually do it; it’s a lot of fun! Use a VM and practice removing bad programs (malware) to see how they work,” he said. “Play online security games to test your skills. Set up a practice computer or lab at home to try things out. This shows you can handle the real stuff.
“Learn to spot things that don’t look right online. Practice looking at computer logs and network traffic to find anomalies, and practice working with data, lots of it.”
And in order to build that continuous learning practice, he said focus on the area that most interests you and become a master at it.
“In general, if you have a speciality and a hunger and desire to keep learning about the evolving threat landscape, you’ll be a valuable person to have on any security team.”
Colreavy also said it’s important to focus on a particular area and build your knowledge in that space to get started. She also said to pay close attention to the job descriptions you want. “This will give you an understanding of what hiring managers are looking for and help you to prepare when you see a position that interests you.”
Moran said it’s important that those starting out don’t have misconceptions about the job. “Don’t think it is geeky as it’s mostly not. Never stop being relevant so continuous learning is important even outside office hours.”
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