A future in the field
The teammates are well aware of the prejudices that surround their interests: “A lot of people hear the word ‘hacking’ and immediately think of crime,” says Polly Nielsen Boutet-Livoff. “Especially among the older generations,” her teammate adds with a laugh.
They find that when they explain what an ethical hacker does, most people fully understand why there is a need for people with those skills. However, Polly Nielsen Boutet-Livoff still feels that many people can be somewhat sceptical about the credibility of ethical hackers.
Nevertheless, both plan to make a living from their passion for cyber security and hacking. “It’s one of the most interesting things I’ve ever done, and it’s something that I’d really like to work with and learn more about,” says Alexander Thomsen Skovsende.
“And the pay is really good,” Polly Nielsen Boutet-Livoff adds, before continuing: “Jobs in IT are generally well paid, but very few people have what it takes to do cyber security at the levels demanded by the national team.”
Cloak-and-dagger
According to Niels Trads Pedersen, who is a partner in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory practice, which consults on issues including cyber security, there will be tremendous demand for people who have the hacker mindset. “In order to resist the enemy, we must be able to think like them,” he says.
He notes that there are plenty of enemies given that society is becoming increasingly digitalized and that we have seen a rise in our dependence on technology—all this means that there is a greater incentive for hackers. They can profit handsomely from companies making payments to get hacked systems restored or for the decryption of encrypted data.
At Deloitte, businesses can seek the assistance of ethical hackers who perform stress test a range of systems, including by attempting to gain unauthorized access through what are known as penetration tests.
“It is vital that you expose your building and get experts to see whether they can break in, because you can learn a lot from the experience and identify the holes you need to fill,” explains Niels Trads Pedersen.
“New methods and approaches are constantly emerging, which is why this isn’t something you can just do at the start of January and then figure you’re off the hook forever after. We do see that some companies that are involved in critical activities will run a range of penetration tests several times a year.”
In fact, Alexander Thomsen Skovsende is one of the Deloitte employees who uses a cloak-and-dagger approach to penetrate customer systems as part of his role as a student assistant.
And going undercover can often be fun and challenging for employees, according to Niels Trads Pedersen: “Because you’re allowed to do all sorts of things you wouldn’t normally be allowed to, but it’s all with the best of intentions and the customer’s consent.”
Massive demand for skilled labour
American specialist Cybersecurity Ventures expects damage as a result of cybercrime this year to cost USD 7 trillion worldwide—with the total bill growing to USD10.5 trillion by 2025.
The steady growth in cybercrime has resulted in increased demand for employees who can provide IT security for businesses and organizations around the world. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, there were 3.5 million vacancies in global cyber security in 2021, and that figure is expected to remain unchanged until 2025.
As such, job prospects look good for talented individuals such as the two members of Denmark’s national team.
Niels Trads Pedersen is clear about what he wants from future employees. Above all, they must naturally possess in-depth technical skills. This includes skills in the field of coding, which enables people to identify coding errors that cause vulnerabilities, and in monitoring so they can quickly spot whether an alert about a possible system intrusion is genuine or a false alarm.
“There will be a need for people with every imaginable technical skill,” he highlights.
He also stresses that being able to and ideally having experience in cooperating in teams and possessing great communication skills are important so that employees can talk to and make themselves understood to every kind of staff member—from the machine room to boardroom.
