Big Data Security: Starter Tips by Stewart Dunlop

When it comes to huge technological discoveries and inventions, the emergence of Big Data has totally transformed the world of technology enabling people to make data-driven decisions and optimize the performance of any industry where it’s widely used. Its impact has been revolutionary when it comes to preventative measures for patients in the health care system. Moreover, it helps to solve the problems within the field where it appeared, i.e. the IT sector.  One such issue tackled by Big Data is cybersecurity. Every device connected to the internet can be used as a target for malicious attacks aimed at stealing personal data, compromising the system, installing ransomware, deleting important data, and others. Having access to huge data chunks, Big Data, applied to the security, can significantly increase the system protections and be ready for attacks utilizing all the power of data analysis. It’s common to view Big Data Security as a set of measures and tools that are used to protect the information and analytic flows from hacking attempts. Let’s see how the insights obtained from it combined with Machine Learning can also enhance the security of the environment where it’s applied.

How Big Data is Used in Web Security?

The first and foremost application of Big Data Security is how it can be applied to practice. Here are its most common use cases:

Discovering System Vulnerabilities     

Using real-time checks, security analytics solutions assess the overall system’s health and indicate the potential threats and weaknesses that are to be ousted to restore normal performance and even differentiate them by indicating a threat level.

Minimizing Internal Attacks

While people tend to protect themselves from external intrusions, they often neglect the risk of internal threats. Various solutions for User and Entity Behavior Analytics like Aruba or VMware running on Big Data exist to avoid them. They analyze user actions on a daily basis to outline unusual behaviour and match it with known malicious patterns that can lead to insider breaches. 

Predicting and Forecasting Security Threats

Having the opportunity to analyze the previous incidents related to the security of an organization,  smart AI algorithms running on Big Data can be used in site reliability monitoring tools to send notifications so that system downtimes can be avoided.

Visualizing and Preventing Critical Incidents

Based on the analysis of the incidents in the company using server logs as well as their visual representation, it’s possible to see the previous causes of the issue, the alarming pre-conditions before a system failure happens, and previous consequences and solutions that were applied to mitigate the issue. This information becomes useful when it comes to system automation, combining Big Data with smart algorithms that can be taught to perform actions without human intervention. 

Contribute to Malware Scanners/Firewall Protection

Since new security threats appear every day the Big Data technologies used by Malware protection software and firewalls analyze a huge number of files, behavior flows and script patterns to outline malicious attacks and help to block them to keep the system safe.

Prevent Fraudulent Activities

For businesses accepting online payments, it is hard to underestimate Big Data’s contribution since its combination with Machine learning powers the tools that analyze identity documents and credit card details to detect criminals and eliminate frauds with stolen bank account details. 

Hence, Big Data is applicable in all industries especially those dealing with sensitive data, such as the Finance and Healthcare sectors, as well as the IT and Governmental structures. Apart from big corporations, small eCommerce businesses benefit from Big Data Security as well as individual users (Everyone uses an antivirus on a PC, right?). The increasing popularity of Big Data Security enhancements and their promising implications make more and more young people consider starting a career in this sphere or switching from other adjacent fields to it. 

Skills and Requirements for Building a Successful Career in Big Data Security

In order to start a successful career in Big Data Security, young specialists would need to learn a bunch of skills related to Machine Learning and coding as well as undergo Cybersecurity Training in addition to that. Taking into account the field’s complexity, it’s not possible to become a Big Data Security specialist overnight but it’s definitely worth investing your time in increasing the competencies in Big Data. 

Depending on the company and the position you are applying to, the requirements can differ but the majority of the job postings for entry positions for Big Data Analyst or Scientist include the prerequisite knowledge of the following:

• Python/Java/C
• Machine learning
• Database Management (NoSQL)
• Hadoop
• Linux (Bash Scripting) 
• Cloud Technologies
• Apache Spark

And here’s an example of a job posting looking for an experienced Big Data Engineer:

Popular Big Data Security Courses and Universities

There are a vast number of online and full-fledged degree and short-term courses available in Big Data Analytics and Big Data Security that are offered by top universities around the world. Check out the following list of popular Big Data Security courses and universities you can explore:

Course	Mode	University
Certificate in Big Data Analytics	Part-time	Rochester Institute of Technology, United States
Short Course in Leading with Big Data Analytics	Full-time	Kellogg School of Management, United States
Essex Analytics and Data Science Summer School [Short Course]	Full-time	The University of Essex, UK
Diploma in Cybersecurity	Full-time	Toronto School of Management, Canada
Bachelor of Business Analytics, Bachelor of Business Studies	Full-time	Macquarie University, Australia
Bachelor of Computer Science (Cybersecurity)	Full-time	The University of Wollongong, Australia
Bachelor’s in Data Science with Analytics	Full-time	The University of Portsmouth, UK
Master in Cybersecurity: Threats and Defence	Full-time	Ecole Polytechnique, France
Master of Cyber Security	Full-time	University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Online Certifications and Training Programs in Big Data

When it comes to certifications and internships which will be helpful in getting a job in Big Data,  different options exist. Among the most popular are the following: 

• IBM Certified Data Engineer – Big Data
• AWS Certified Big Data – Specialty
• Internship for Big Data
• SentryOne – Data Pros of Tomorrow Scholarship
• Cloudera Data Analyst certification

Being a relatively new and ever-expanding field, Big Data Security opens new horizons and career opportunities for young people aspiring for a career in IT, since the number of job openings in this sphere is increasing as well as the demand for specialists on the market.

About The Author

Stewart Dunlop looks after Content Marketing at Udemy and has a passion for curating articles that users will want to read. In his free time, he likes to play football and read Stephen King.

FAQs

Thus, we hope that this insightful blog by Udemy’s Stewart Dunlop helped you explore the essential aspects of building a thriving career in Big Data Security! Want to pursue a degree or diploma in Cybersecurity? Our Leverage Edu experts are here to guide you throughout the process of finding suitable course and university combinations and cherry-picking the best one to ensure that you embark on your academic journey in the right way! Sign up for a free session with us now!