Career Overlap Transition record
RecordMove

ICT security technician to ethical hacker

An ICT security technician already meets 50% of what the ethical hacker role asks for. The move turns on 16 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional
From ICT security technician
50 % overlap
Partial match
To ethical hacker
33 You already bring
16 Still to learn
74 Skills in the target role2
Learning distance Substantial retraining

64.6/ 100

1 How much of what an ethical hacker is expected to do is already part of an ICT security technician’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the ethical hacker role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

An ethical hacker role treats 20 of its required skills as things an ICT security technician already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

  • ICT network security risks
  • ICT security standards
  • address problems critically
  • attack vectors
  • communicate with stakeholders
  • computer programming

What stands in the way is 16 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 33 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. An ethical hacker role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an ICT security technician background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held penetration testing tool information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held set up cybersecurity training programmes communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held engage with stakeholders communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held web application security threats information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held operating systems information and communication technologies (icts)
  • already held ICT safety working with computers

All 33 carried skills, including the 20 the ethical hacker role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 41 missing skills fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier
01 information and communication technologies (icts) 5 required, 22 supplementary
  • still to learn ICT system integration required
  • still to learn computer forensics required
  • still to learn ethical hacking principles required
  • still to learn information security strategy required
  • still to learn software anomalies required
  • optional, not held Aircrack (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held Backbox (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held BlackArch optional
  • optional, not held Cain and Abel (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held John The Ripper (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held Kali Linux optional
  • optional, not held Maltego optional
  • optional, not held Metasploit optional
  • optional, not held Nessus optional
  • optional, not held Nexpose optional
  • optional, not held OWASP ZAP optional
  • optional, not held Open source model optional
  • optional, not held Outsourcing model optional
  • optional, not held Parrot Security OS optional
  • optional, not held Samurai Web Testing Framework optional
  • optional, not held WhiteHat Sentinel optional
  • optional, not held Wireshark optional
  • optional, not held hybrid model optional
  • optional, not held information confidentiality optional
  • optional, not held internet governance optional
  • optional, not held proxy servers optional
  • optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
02 working with computers 4 required, 1 supplementary
  • still to learn conduct ICT code review required
  • still to learn develop code exploits required
  • still to learn perform ICT security testing required
  • still to learn use scripting programming required
  • optional, not held maintain ICT server optional
03 engineering, manufacturing and construction 2 required
  • still to learn ICT infrastructure required
  • still to learn building systems monitoring technology required
04 information skills 2 required
  • still to learn execute social engineering tests required
  • still to learn analyse the context of an organisation required
05 arts and humanities 1 required
  • still to learn ethics required
06 business, administration and law 1 required
  • still to learn legal requirements of ICT products required

2 further areas in the appendix

Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries an ethical hacker role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 33 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held ICT network security risks knowledge
  • already held ICT security standards knowledge
  • already held address problems critically skill
  • already held attack vectors knowledge
  • already held communicate with stakeholders skill
  • already held computer programming knowledge
  • already held cyber attack counter-measures knowledge
  • already held cyber security knowledge
  • already held engage with stakeholders skill
  • already held execute ICT audits skill
  • already held execute software tests skill
  • already held identify ICT security risks skill
  • already held identify ICT system weaknesses skill
  • already held implement ICT risk management skill
  • already held manage system security skill
  • already held operating systems knowledge
  • already held penetration testing tool knowledge
  • already held security engineering knowledge
  • already held tools for ICT test automation knowledge
  • already held web application security threats knowledge
  • already held ICT encryption knowledge
  • already held ICT safety skill
  • already held ICT security legislation knowledge
  • already held Internet of Things knowledge
  • already held implement ICT security policies skill
  • already held implement a firewall skill
  • already held levels of software testing knowledge
  • already held manage IT security compliances skill
  • already held manage cloud data and storage skill
  • already held organisational resilience knowledge
  • already held remove computer virus or malware from a computer skill
  • already held set up cybersecurity training programmes skill
  • already held solve ICT system problems skill
The 2 learning areas not shown above
Skill to pick up Tier
07 constructing 1 required
  • still to learn monitor system performance required
08 management skills 2 supplementary
  • optional, not held define security policies optional
  • optional, not held perform project management optional
25 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to pick up Tier
  • optional, not held Aircrack (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held Backbox (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held BlackArch optional
  • optional, not held Cain and Abel (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held John The Ripper (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held Kali Linux optional
  • optional, not held Maltego optional
  • optional, not held Metasploit optional
  • optional, not held Nessus optional
  • optional, not held Nexpose optional
  • optional, not held OWASP ZAP optional
  • optional, not held Open source model optional
  • optional, not held Outsourcing model optional
  • optional, not held Parrot Security OS optional
  • optional, not held Samurai Web Testing Framework optional
  • optional, not held WhiteHat Sentinel optional
  • optional, not held Wireshark optional
  • optional, not held define security policies optional
  • optional, not held hybrid model optional
  • optional, not held information confidentiality optional
  • optional, not held internet governance optional
  • optional, not held maintain ICT server optional
  • optional, not held proxy servers optional
  • optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
  • optional, not held perform project management optional
62 held skills the ethical hacker role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role ABAP knowledge
  • not needed by the target role AJAX knowledge
  • not needed by the target role APL knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ASP.NET knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Assembly (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role C# knowledge
  • not needed by the target role C++ knowledge
  • not needed by the target role COBOL knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Cisco knowledge
  • not needed by the target role CoffeeScript knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Common Lisp knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Erlang knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Groovy knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Haskell knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ICT networking hardware knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ICT system programming knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Java (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role JavaScript knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Lisp knowledge
  • not needed by the target role MATLAB knowledge
  • not needed by the target role ML (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Microsoft Visual C++ knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Objective-C knowledge
  • not needed by the target role OpenEdge Advanced Business Language knowledge
  • not needed by the target role PHP knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Pascal (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Perl knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Prolog (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Python (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role R knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Ruby (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role SAP R3 knowledge
  • not needed by the target role SAS language knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Scala knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Scratch (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Smalltalk (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Swift (computer programming) knowledge
  • not needed by the target role TypeScript knowledge
  • not needed by the target role VBScript knowledge
  • not needed by the target role Visual Basic knowledge

22 further entries not listed here

31 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice

Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.

Skill to pick up Tier
  • still to learn ICT infrastructure required
  • still to learn ICT system integration required
  • still to learn building systems monitoring technology required
  • still to learn computer forensics required
  • still to learn ethical hacking principles required
  • still to learn information security strategy required
  • still to learn software anomalies required
  • still to learn ethics required
  • still to learn legal requirements of ICT products required
  • optional, not held Aircrack (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held Backbox (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held BlackArch optional
  • optional, not held Cain and Abel (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held John The Ripper (penetration testing tool) optional
  • optional, not held Kali Linux optional
  • optional, not held Maltego optional
  • optional, not held Metasploit optional
  • optional, not held Nessus optional
  • optional, not held Nexpose optional
  • optional, not held OWASP ZAP optional
  • optional, not held Open source model optional
  • optional, not held Outsourcing model optional
  • optional, not held Parrot Security OS optional
  • optional, not held Samurai Web Testing Framework optional
  • optional, not held WhiteHat Sentinel optional
  • optional, not held Wireshark optional
  • optional, not held hybrid model optional
  • optional, not held information confidentiality optional
  • optional, not held internet governance optional
  • optional, not held proxy servers optional
  • optional, not held service-oriented modelling optional
Index

Other moves recorded from ICT security technician

Full index of moves from ICT security technician

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an ICT security technician become an ethical hacker?

Yes, and it is a substantial move. An ICT security technician already covers 50% of what an ethical hacker is expected to do: 33 skills carry over, 20 of which the ethical hacker role treats as required.

What skills does an ICT security technician need to become an ethical hacker?

16 required skills are missing, plus 25 optional ones. They fall into 8 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by information and communication technologies (icts). The single most important is ICT infrastructure.

How hard is the move from ICT security technician to ethical hacker?

Its learning distance is 64.6 out of 100, which is the substantial band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.