If there’s ever a time to explore a career in cybersecurity, it’s now. Cybersecurity is a large umbrella that covers a variety of related sub-disciplines and fields, all of which offer ample opportunity to learn and grow. The field of digital forensics is an exciting option for those who enjoy investigating and sleuthing. Though cybersecurity and digital forensics are closely related and may even overlap at times, there are some distinct differences.
Key Takeaways
- Cybersecurity defends against threats. Digital forensics investigates what happened. One builds defenses, the other collects and analyzes evidence.
- Digital forensics emphasizes evidence preservation. Examiners document how evidence was collected, handled and analyzed so their findings can withstand scrutiny in legal, insurance and regulatory contexts.
- The fields overlap. Powering off a compromised device may help contain a threat but can also eliminate volatile evidence in memory, which is why incident response and forensics often work together.
- Digital forensics can include fraud, intellectual property theft, employment disputes and family law, not just cybersecurity incidents.
- Marshall’s B.S. in Cyber Forensics and Security divides its curriculum between cybersecurity and digital forensics.
What Is Cybersecurity?
Cybersecurity is a proactive approach to protecting and safeguarding digital information, networks, computers and other forms of technology against cyber attacks and other security risks. The official definition from Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency defines cybersecurity as “the art of protecting networks, devices, and data from unauthorized access or criminal use and the practice of ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information.”
Today, cybersecurity includes protecting everything from computers and laptops to cell phones, tablets, email, credit cards, critical infrastructure and online bank accounts and medical records, all of which can contain valuable data and information.
What is Digital Forensics?
Digital forensics, also known as cyber forensics, is the process of identifying, preserving, collecting and analyzing digital evidence such as text messages, emails, Internet browsing history, social media posts and more. Digital evidence is most often associated with legal proceedings, but it’s also used in many other contexts, such as in military and administrative investigations.
Some people use the terms computer forensics and cyber forensics interchangeably, but they do differ. Computer forensics is more of an outdated term that focuses on digital evidence within computers, whereas cyber forensics casts a wider net of evidence sources including mobile devices, networks, cloud servers, surveillance cameras, GPS devices, connected cars, etc. Cyber, like digital, is a more inclusive term given today’s different sub-disciplines.
Today, many digital, cyber or computer forensics positions work on the same types of cases, including cyberstalking, cyber attacks, child exploitation, identity theft, online harassment, fraud, violations of company policy, wrongful termination, divorce and identifying terrorist cells.
One of the major differences between cybersecurity and digital forensics is that cybersecurity is proactive, meaning that you take steps to prevent and guard against attacks. Digital forensics, on the other hand, is reactive, which means you use forensics to investigate crimes that have already occurred. Cyber forensics is broader than just criminal cases and can be instrumental in reconstructing timelines and events.
Here are some examples of digital evidence within different use cases:
- Criminal cases — Pictures and messages on social media that can help determine motive; reconstructing timelines based on SMS messaging, phone call timestamps and AMT transaction logs
- Civil cases — Emails, instant messages, chat logs, spreadsheets and signed electronic contracts in cases of family law or employee discrimination
- Military and intelligence — Access logs, software logs, metadata and Internet browsing history that display motive and opportunity in cases of electronic warfare or terrorism
- Administrative investigations — Electronic communications, financial records and intellectual property theft that are key to non-compliance cases
- Incident response — Examining operating system artifacts to find the cause of a data breach
Digital Forensics vs. Incident Response: What’s the Difference?
Incident response is the operational process of detecting a breach, containing the threat and restoring normal systems, with speed being one important measure of effectiveness. Digital forensics is the evidence side of the work: collecting and analyzing data under a documented chain of custody so investigators can preserve the integrity of their findings for legal proceedings, insurance claims or regulatory investigations.
The two disciplines have different purposes but are closely connected in practice. For example, powering off a compromised device may help contain a threat but can also eliminate evidence stored in memory. That’s why incident responders need to consider forensic requirements when taking action, and why the combined discipline is often called digital forensics and incident response (DFIR).
Specializations Within Cybersecurity and Digital Forensics
If you’re looking for a career in cybersecurity or cyber forensics, you can choose to work within a sub-discipline or specialization. Here are some popular options:
Cybersecurity
| Specialization | What the Work Involves |
|---|---|
| Security operations | Monitoring networks for suspicious activity, triaging alerts and filtering false positives, usually from a security operations center (SOC) |
| Incident response | Detecting breaches, containing and eradicating threats, restoring affected systems and running post-incident reviews |
| Network security | Protecting network infrastructure, deploying firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs), segmenting networks to limit an attacker’s reach |
| Cloud security | Securing cloud workloads and configurations, managing access across cloud platforms, catching misconfigurations before attackers do |
| Application security | Testing software for vulnerabilities, reviewing code and working with developers on secure design |
| Identity and access management | Controlling who can access which systems, managing authentication and enforcing least-privilege access |
| Cryptography | Designing and implementing encryption, and analyzing ciphers and their implementations for weaknesses |
| Governance, risk and compliance | Writing security policy, mapping controls to regulations and preparing for audits |
Digital and cyber forensics
| Specialization | What the Work Involves |
|---|---|
| File system forensics | Recovering and analyzing files, folders and deleted data stored on endpoints |
| Memory forensics | Analyzing a device’s random access memory (RAM) for attack indicators that never touch the file system |
| Network forensics | Reconstructing network activity to identify an intrusion, trace an attacker’s techniques and determine the scope of an incident |
| Mobile forensics | Extracting and analyzing call records, messages, contacts, photos, app usage and location data from phones and tablets |
| Cloud forensics | Collecting and analyzing evidence from cloud platforms, where data is distributed and traditional imaging methods do not apply |
| Multimedia forensics | Analyzing images, video and audio for evidentiary detail or signs of manipulation, and enhancing recordings |
| Malware analysis | Reverse-engineering malicious code to determine what it does, how it spread and what it accessed |
Cybersercurity Career Paths
| Career Path | Typical Responsibilities | Example Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Security operations | Monitoring networks and traffic for potential threats, triaging alerts and implementing security procedures, usually from a security operations center | SOC Analyst, security monitoring specialist |
| Incident response | Detecting and mitigating cyber incidents, then assisting with recovery and post-incident analysis | Incident responder, DFIR analyst |
| Engineering | Building and maintaining the systems that protect an organization, from firewalls and virtual private networks (VPNs) to encryption | Network security engineer, cloud security |
| Analysis | Reviewing and assessing data to better understand cyber threats, including information gathered from publicly available sources such as social media, databases and websites | Cybersecurity analyst, cyber threat intelligence analyst, open source intelligence analyst |
| Policy development | Creating, analyzing and reviewing the laws, guidelines and regulations pertaining to cybersecurity | Cybersecurity compliance offer, government advisor |
| Industrial control systems | Protecting critical infrastructure such as transportation systems and power plants from cyber threats that could cause public harm | Control systems engineer, ICS security engineer |
| Legal affairs | Handling the compliance and legal issues pertaining to cybersecurity | Cybersecurity attorney, privacy officer, data protection officer, compliance specialist, policy advisor |
Cybersecurity jobs are in high demand. From small, private businesses to large public enterprises, all types and levels of cybersecurity professionals are needed. According to Cyberseek, there are more than 500,000 job openings, with the most unfilled positions in California, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Illinois, New York, Colorado and Maryland.
You can work in any type of industry. Companies that are hiring include government contractors, insurance businesses, colleges and universities, banks, hospitals and healthcare facilities, software developers, sports teams, retailers, entertainment venues and more.
Digital Forensics Career Paths
While cyber forensics has a more specialized focus than cybersecurity, a degree in the field doesn’t limit you to jobs with “forensics” in the name.
| Career Path | Typical Responsibilities | Example Roles |
|---|---|---|
| Investigation and examination | Acquiring and analyzing digital evidence from devices, networks and cloud accounts, then documenting findings in reports that hold up to outside scrutiny | Digital forensics examiner, digital forensics analyst, computer forensics analyst, forensic technician |
| Incident response | Investigating active and recent breaches, determining how far an attacker got and preserving evidence while the threat is contained | Cyber defense forensics analyst, DFIR investigator, cyber threat hunter |
| Corporate security audit | Investigating internal matters such as policy violations, intellectual property theft and fraud, and verifying that systems and records meet compliance requirements | Information security analyst, information technology (IT) auditor, data forensics specialist |
| Consulting | Advising organizations on forensic readiness and evidence handling, and taking on investigations for clients who lack in-house capability | Cybersecurity consultant, forensics consultant |
Companies and organizations hiring for these types of positions include branches of the government, law enforcement agencies, IT companies, security firms, government contractors, consulting firms, law firms and even retailers and entertainment companies.
Digital Forensics vs. Cybersecurity (Comparison Table)
Looking for a side-by-side comparison? Here’s a quick look at how cybersecurity and digital forensics stack up.
| Cybersecurity | Digital/Cyber Forensics | |
|---|---|---|
| Cybersecurity | Digital/Cyber Forensics | |
| Overview | The proactive approach of protecting and safeguarding digital information, networks, computers and other forms of technology against cyber attacks and other security risks | The process of identifying, examining and analyzing digital evidence, such as text messages, emails, Internet browsing history, social media posts and more. Also known as cyber forensics |
| Education | Entry-level positions may only require an associate’s degree. Many mid-level roles typically require a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, computer science, computer engineering or a related field. Senior-level, director or management roles may require an advanced education. | Bachelor’s degree in computer forensics, computer science, cybersecurity or a related field may be preferred; some positions may only require an associate’s degree or have no education requirements at all. A master’s degree may be required for certain positions. |
| In-demand certifications |
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| Examples of job titles |
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How to Get Started (Career Tips & Advice)
If you’re interested in a career in either one of these areas, obtaining a relevant undergraduate degree that is designed for developing industry practitioners is a good place to start. Consider majoring in cybersecurity, cyber forensics, computer science or a related field. You also want to find the right undergraduate program — one that offers a comprehensive, hands-on curriculum, knowledgeable faculty and helpful career support.
An internship is an excellent opportunity to learn about this type of work first-hand. Companies and organizations that have recently advertised cybersecurity and cyber forensics internships include the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Campbell’s, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Major League Baseball, Booz Allen Hamilton and NBCUniverisal.
You should also consider the power of the informational interview, which one career website describes as “a hybrid of an amazing networking opportunity, an info session, and a job interview.” This low-stakes, no-strings-attached conversation is an excellent way to learn more about the field and make a connection with someone in the industry.
Finally, think about continuing your education with certifications or a master’s degree, both of which may be required for certain positions.
