There are a lot of entry level information assurance jobs for IT professionals wanting to specialize or for college students wanting to get there first year of experience or even those brand new to the Information Technology.
What ever the case, an information assurance job is a great start.
The best situation you can be in when attempting to get entry level information assurance jobs is to have some IT experience doing system security. Experience such as applying system security controls, installing patches, running vulnerability scans with tools like nexpose, retina, nessus or working with organization policy makers creating system security plans and standards for the network.
No Technical skills necessary for entry level information assurance jobs
The most appealing thing about entry level information assurance jobs is that you don’t always have to be technical because there are Information Assurance jobs that focus entirely on writing policies and creating standards. While you don’t need specific hands on technical experience, you should have a working understanding of the technology you create standards for. For example, you don’t have to know how to configure the screen saver on a RedHat system, but you should understand why its important that the automatic screen locking/screen saver mechanism be implemented or why it should not.
Entry level information assurance jobs for people who don’t know ANYTHING
In some cases, you don’t even need to understand IT to start. Some positions only require that you have the appropriate security clearance and be able to work with others and all the rest you can learn as you go. Since certain security clearance levels are hard to get and maintain and expensive for a company to get for you, they have a lot of leeway for entry level information assurance jobs.. and even high level IA jobs depending on the security clearance level required.
Security Provision entry level information assurance jobs
Information Assurance Compliance requires that you know government regulations 80% and have a 20% understanding of the technology you will apply it too. Although IA compliance should only be reserved for seasoned IT veterans, managers typically allow ANYONE in these positions because most IT professionals HATE doing compliance. (see dod 8140 for more info)
Operate & Maintenance for entry level information assurance jobs
Information Assurance Officers (Information System Security Officers) is a great entry level information assurance job. It gives immediate exposure to HOW information assurance is applied. Operations & Maintenance also has Tech Support, and basic system administration that are great entry level information assurance jobs. (see dod 8140 for more info)
Certification of Entry level Information Assurance Jobs
As of this writing (2014) most entry level IA positions will require either a degree or experience with a Comptia Security+ certification. Sometimes an organization will hire you with the understanding that you will get one. But that has become rare these days.
