Supercharge Your Cybersecurity Career with AI Tools: A Guide to Leverage ChatGPT
In the evolving world of cybersecurity, professionals are finding that artificial intelligence (AI) tools, like ChatGPT, can provide invaluable resources to jumpstart their careers, hone their skill sets, and streamline their workflows.
That’s right it’s wicked powerful and can be used across your entire career journey for maximum value. In this blog post, our friend Gerald Auger, PhD, will explore three key areas where ChatGPT can supercharge your cybersecurity career.
Breaking into the field
For those looking to break into the cybersecurity industry, AI tools can offer a helping hand.
Understanding Cybersecurity Basics
ChatGPT can be an excellent learning resource for understanding cybersecurity fundamentals. Hear a term you don’t recognize or familiar with a term but want to know how it's actually used in practice? Want it explained in a less technical way? By querying the AI model with questions related to key concepts, principles, or procedures, you can gain a clear and immediate understanding.
ChatGPT Prompt: You're a cybersecurity teacher and can explain complicated technical concepts to non-technical people. Explain to me what [technology/concept/term] is.
Interview Prep
Preparing for a job interview can be stressful, especially when it's in a complex field like cybersecurity. However, you can use ChatGPT to simulate an interview, answering a wide range of potential questions, to build your confidence and readiness. Simply Cyber has a video on exactly how to do this with great success.
Resume Updates
Want to update your resume, or perhaps have it tailored for each specific role you’re applying to? No sweat. Copy it into ChatGPT and copy the role and tell it to rewrite your resume to be optimal for a hiring manager’s eyes. See it in action.
ChatGPT Prompt: Can you take the following information: "(paste whole resume here)" And update my resume to emphasize by skills and experience related to the cyber security field? I want to become "(position)
Now let’s look at how ChatGPT can help you know which skills to focus on for different roles in the industry...
Role-Related Questions
Not sure what skills are necessary for a cybersecurity analyst versus a security engineer? ChatGPT can provide you with a rundown of key skills and knowledge areas required for each position.
ChatGPT Prompt: Explain to me the pros and cons of being an entry level [role]
Common Tools for Roles
Overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tools and want to focus on the specific tools that are classics used by different roles? Just ask ChatGPT, and - bonus point - ask ChatGPT ideas on how to learn using that tool.
ChatGPT Prompt: You are a seasoned [role] and are mentoring me as an entry level [role]. What are 5 tools that are commonly used, have value, and where do I get training for them.
Skill Gap Analysis
By simulating discussions with the AI tool about your current skill set, you can identify potential gaps for certain roles. ChatGPT can suggest courses, certifications, or areas of study to strengthen these weak points.
ChatGPT Prompt: You are an information security career mentor. I will tell you what type of work I like doing and what skills I have, and you tell me what roles I may be interested in cybersecurity, why you think I'd like them, and what a potential downside of that role is.
Integrating AI into Security Analyst Workflows
AI tools like ChatGPT can also be integrated into your daily tasks to increase efficiency.
Code De-obfuscation
Use ChatGPT to help de-obfuscate tricky malware that a threat actor has taken the time to make difficult to analyze. Drop it in and ask "what does this code do?" and get a quick reply.
Worth noting, ChatGPT can do this, but Bard, a competitor to ChatGPT, does this particular task better. You can see specifically this test in a video I made.
ChatGPT Prompt: Can you clean up and de-obfuscate this code and explain to me what it's doing? [code]
Write Detection Rules
AI tools can write code too. Sometimes formatting can be tricky, or you have a detection you just want to quickly write. Explain the detection to ChatGPT and away it goes, or ask it to build a Sigma rule template and then just fill in the detection parts. Either way ChatGPT can handle the task efficiently.
ChatGPT Prompt: Based on this [IOCS] write a sigma rule
Concluding notes
Artificial intelligence tools, particularly large language models like ChatGPT, can be incredibly valuable in the cybersecurity field. They can help break down the barriers to entry, guide professionals towards the right skills, and assist in everyday tasks. As the world of cybersecurity continues to evolve and grow, AI will undoubtedly be a key player in shaping its future. Make sure you're not left behind and start leveraging these tools today.
