Our Promise | The Prelude Institute

The Reality

Cybersecurity is a deeply misunderstood and opaque industry. Many people conclude it's a "not for me" career because of the perceived difficulty of entering the industry. However, cybersecurity is an industry that you can be in, and *thrive in*, even if you have no experience today.

There is no more dynamic, exciting, and arguably important industry in the world today. And there is a **major** shortage of workers in the space - leading to vulnerabilities and risks for large companies. With an average starting salary of $68,000, it's a great career to get started in.

The Prelude Institute is a new type of school designed to help you transition into becoming a cybersecurity analyst by assessing, training and placing you in 15 weeks. Below, we explain why we chose cybersecurity analyst, what it is that you'll be doing day-to-day, and why we are so confident we can turn you into an analyst in 15 weeks.

Month 0: Assessment

First we assess you to establish a baseline of how well you'd perform as an analyst.

Month 1-4: Training

Then we train you to make sure you have all the job-ready skills you need to be successful.

Month 4+: Placement

Upon certification, we work with you to place you in a job, and change your life in the process.

Year 1+: Membership

Once you're in a job, we will help support you throughout your career - providing up-skilling and membership benefits.

What is a SOC Analyst?

A SOC analyst works as a key player within a security operations center. This security operations center employs a team of people responsible for continually monitoring, detecting, analyzing, and responding to an organization's cybersecurity incidents. Because organizations are becoming more and more vulnerable to cyber threats, there is a very high demand for qualified cybersecurity experts that are trained to focus on security incident handling and response.

SOC analysts act as watch dogs and security advisors. They often work with security managers, cybersecurity engineers and security analysts, and typically report to the CISO (Chief Information Security Officer). SOC analysts are one of the first team members to respond to cyber incidents, and have a specific set of processes that they must diligently follow. A company without these professionals would be hard pressed to find hackers and cyber criminals on their own.

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Why Did We Choose Cybersecurity Analyst As Our First Career?

The labor market is changing at a rapid, sometimes scary, pace. Career advice from the last generation just doesn't apply anymore - there is no more "go to school for four years, work in the same company for 30 years". Instead, careers are rapidly evolving and combining with other careers. Cybersecurity is a unique industry because it is both large and changing constantly. Just look at the headlines: any given week will have multiple breaches at the largest organizations. An industry this dynamic requires a highly trained workforce.

There are two primary reasons we chose cybersecurity as our first career.

First - there is enormous opportunity in the space. There will be an estimated 4 million cybersecurity job openings by 2021 [1], and the gap is growing each year, not shrinking. This acute shortage allows us to work with employers to design a curriculum that works for them. Our unique (and probably unpopular) opinion is that the need is even larger than the new openings referenced above. We believe that a significant number of current practitioners require upskilling or retraining to be prepared for the industry today.

Second, and related to the last point above - we think there is a real opportunity to transform non-cybersecurity trained individuals into *excellent* practitioners. We think the way that analysts are being taught is largely stuck in the past, and that employers require a different standard to succeed in today's world of cybercrime.

We believe that unlike many extremely difficult technology jobs, many people can succeed in the field of cybersecurity. We chose cybersecurity precisely because we think that whether you were in manufacturing, the military or any other previous career, you can be successful in this industry.

What Does A SOC Analyst Actually Do Every Day?

Specific job responsibilities and duties will vary from company to company, but SOC Analysts generally have common tasks that they must perform in order to be effective.

Organizations with mature security programs use systems called "Security Information and Event Management" or SEIMs. A SEIM helps an organization by consolidating log files and information from computers and devices (like routers and firewalls) from all over the network, so that they can be analyzed in one place. Many SEIMs can also flag items that indicate that there might be a problem. SOC Analysts are typically responsible for reviewing the data collected by a SEIM, and investigating any suspicious activity flagged by the system.

In addition to firewalls, most organizations also have Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), and Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS). Depending on how the organization has set up its security technology, the IDS and IPS data may feed into the SEIM. If it does not, the SOC Analyst may be responsible for monitoring these devices in order to detect early indicators of an attack.

Security Analysts will probably be part of the Incident Response Team. They will often be the first ones to detect an attack, and alert the rest of the organization to the incident. The Analyst will play a critical role in classifying and prioritizing the incident. They will need to accurately communicate details of the incident to the rest of the team, so that an effective and efficient response can be put into action. The Analyst may help to perform investigation, collect evidence, or participate in forensic analysis of data. An analyst might even testify in court as an expert witness.

The Analyst may work with Security Administrators and other team members to identify and close the vulnerabilities and pathways used by the attacker, and lock the attacker out of the network.

Analysts will help an organization recover from an incident, and shore up defenses to prevent future attacks from succeeding. The Analyst may provide important feedback regarding what worked well in the detection and response processes, and where improvements can be made to make the team more effective.

A security analyst may also get involved in more strategic security projects, including helping to educate the computer users of the organization about online risks and ways that they can keep safe and protect information. The analyst may also be involved in helping to update security policies, procedures, and standards to better align with laws and regulations as those requirements evolve.

In order to be effective at the job, a SOC Analyst must be constantly learning. The world of online crime and security changes at a very high pace; there is always something new to learn. It is the responsibility of the SOC Analyst to keep on top of emerging trends in attacks, tactics, and defensive techniques to ensure that their knowledge is up-to-date, and that they are well-positioned to defend the enterprise against attack.

How Much Does It Cost?

Our philosophy is that we want to succeed only when you succeed. Think about your traditional college or university - how do they charge you? First, they organize your learning into time blocks ("butt in seat modules"), and charge per block (per course, per semester). The structure of the typical college is four years, but it takes over six, on average, to graduate. It's not uncommon to have a typical four year college cost $150-200,000. Even with scholarships and bursaries, the average American graduates with $40,000 of debt.

The total cost of attending The Prelude Institute, including assessment, training and placement is $10,000. The only payment due during the first six months is $2,500- we think that payment is important to keep you motivated and accountable during the process.

All other payments are contingent on us helping you be successful – passing The Prelude Institute Skills & Knowledge Assessment and being placed in a full-time role as a cybersecurity analyst.

The Prelude Promise:

The Reality

What is a SOC Analyst?

Why Did We Choose Cybersecurity Analyst As Our First Career?

There are two primary reasons we chose cybersecurity as our first career.

What Does A SOC Analyst Actually Do Every Day?

Cybersecurity is an industry that you can be in, and thrive in, even if you have no experience today.

How Much Does It Cost?

It is not our goal to teach you the minimum you need to succeed on the job. We are here to make you a world-class analyst.

Other Common Questions

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