Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between security engineers and cyber security analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a security engineer and a cyber security analyst. Additionally, a security engineer has an average salary of $104,524, which is higher than the $88,422 average annual salary of a cyber security analyst.
The top three skills for a security engineer include java, cloud security and infrastructure. The most important skills for a cyber security analyst are incident response, windows, and SIEM.
| Security Engineer | Cyber Security Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $104,524 | $88,422 |
| Hourly rate | $50.25 | $42.51 |
| Growth rate | 32% | 32% |
| Number of jobs | 86,093 | 64,387 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Security engineers are responsible for developing and overseeing data and security software to help prevent data breaches, leaks, and taps related to cybercrime. Other duties and responsibilities include developing new systems to help protect computer networks and assets, configuring firewalls, and conducting penetration testing to pinpoint vulnerabilities. Additionally, security engineers are responsible for investigating attacks and help prevent cybersecurity threat. They are also responsible for creating new processes for authorization, encryption algorithms, and authentication, and analyzing current security policies.
A cybersecurity analyst is responsible for planning and carrying out security measures to protect a company's computer networks and systems. They constantly keep tabs on threats and monitor their organization's networks for any security breaches. Their tasks involve installing computer programs or software and encryption, reporting breaches or weak spots, exploring new IT trends, educating the company's information security team on security. They also do simulate security attacks to find possible network and system vulnerabilities.
Security engineers and cyber security analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Security Engineer | Cyber Security Analyst | |
| Average salary | $104,524 | $88,422 |
| Salary range | Between $77,000 And $141,000 | Between $66,000 And $117,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Los Angeles, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Oregon |
| Best paying company | ICE Mortgage Technology | Neighborly |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a security engineer and a cyber security analyst in terms of educational background:
| Security Engineer | Cyber Security Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Information Systems |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | California State University - Bakersfield |
Here are the differences between security engineers' and cyber security analysts' demographics:
| Security Engineer | Cyber Security Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.4% Female, 13.6% | Male, 78.5% Female, 21.5% |
| 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% |