Cyber security engineer vs information security officer

The differences between cyber security engineers and information security officers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a cyber security engineer and an information security officer. Additionally, an information security officer has an average salary of $135,040, which is higher than the $99,492 average annual salary of a cyber security engineer.

The top three skills for a cyber security engineer include cyber security, python and linux. The most important skills for an information security officer are risk management, risk assessments, and incident response.

Cyber security engineer vs information security officer overview

	Cyber Security Engineer	Information Security Officer
Yearly salary	$99,492	$135,040
Hourly rate	$47.83	$64.92
Growth rate	32%	32%
Number of jobs	73,419	145,907
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	6	6

What does a cyber security engineer do?

A cyber security engineer specializes in designing and establishing security measures to protect a company's network and data from hackers or cyber attacks. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around planning and implementing cyber security systems, responding to any problems or concerns, handling security breaches and emergencies, and troubleshooting to identify any issues or vulnerabilities. Moreover, a cyber security engineer may perform clerical tasks such as producing progress reports and documentation, creating instructional materials for systems, managing schedules, and coordinating with department managers, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.

What does an information security officer do?

Information security officers are responsible for planning and implementing policies to safeguard an organization's computer network and data from different types of security breaches. Their duties typically include identifying computer network vulnerabilities, developing and executing a plan to secure and protect the network, and tracking computer network usage to ensure adherence to security policies. In addition, information security officers are also expected to conduct penetration tests to look for flaws and work closely with the IT and management departments to improve security.

Cyber security engineer vs information security officer salary

Cyber security engineers and information security officers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Cyber Security Engineer	Information Security Officer
Average salary	$99,492	$135,040
Salary range	Between $75,000 And $131,000	Between $95,000 And $190,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Dotdash	Twilio
Best paying industry	Technology	Professional

Differences between cyber security engineer and information security officer education

There are a few differences between a cyber security engineer and an information security officer in terms of educational background:

	Cyber Security Engineer	Information Security Officer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Computer Science	Business
Most common college	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Stanford University

Cyber security engineer vs information security officer demographics

Here are the differences between cyber security engineers' and information security officers' demographics:

	Cyber Security Engineer	Information Security Officer
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 83.8% Female, 16.2%	Male, 85.9% Female, 14.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between cyber security engineer and information security officer duties and responsibilities

Cyber security engineer example responsibilities.

Facilitate and manage weekly meetings between CyberCom, DISA and all OSD components.
Manage security patching life cycle and approve change control requests, firewall rules and DLP policies.
Manage, configure, and maintain all servers within the environments, including Cisco network routers, switches, and firewalls.
Lead security authorization efforts to obtain and maintain an authorization to operate (ATO) for customers' core financial system.
Manage efforts to consolidate customer VPN infrastructure.
Lead numerous DLP upgrades and process improvements and successfully implement application security program.

Information security officer example responsibilities.

Lead vulnerability scanning and penetration testing for PCI-DSS compliance.
Manage client relationships in conjunction with moving production environment to AWS.
Manage all printers, switches, routers, and data archiving.
Manage and ensure all AIS systems are operated in accordance with applicable DoD directives.
Avoid fines and penalties by achieving and maintaining PCI, HIPAA, and SOX compliance.
Engage to design and implement an enterprise-wide information security program to achieve SOX and HIPPA compliance.

Cyber security engineer vs information security officer skills

Common cyber security engineer skills

Cyber Security, 17%
Python, 5%
Linux, 4%
Architecture, 4%
NIST, 4%
Incident Response, 4%

Common information security officer skills

Risk Management, 12%
Risk Assessments, 7%
Incident Response, 7%
Infrastructure, 6%
Governance, 5%
ISO, 5%

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Cyber Security Engineer vs Information Security Officer

Updated January 8, 2025

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