How To Become A Seasoned Security Specialist

Enter the keywords "IT security" into the search field on the popular job board site Monster.com and 1,000-plus job postings will quickly populate the page. Enforcing security policies, outwitting hackers, preventing data breaches, snuffing out cyber threats--enterprises need all the security help that they can get. And IT security pros earned a median pay bump of $7,000 this year, according to InformationWeek's most recent salary survey.

The recession has not dampened the will of cyber crooks. According to Symantec's 2011 Cost of Data Breach Study, conducted by the Ponemon Institute, the cost associated with a breach was $194 per record in 2011, amounting to a total of $5.5 million dollars.

In fact, as more and more mobile devices find their way into corporate offices, security threats are only becoming more complex. And that's broadening the job definition of a cyber-sleuth to include everything from protecting sensitive data to establishing incident response procedures.

So how can an IT professional with general experience become a seasoned security specialist?

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