UK

United Kingdom · Technology and data · Mid-Level (2-5 years)

Information Security Analyst

Here is the whole job, in plain words. What it is, what you decide, how you're judged, how people get here and where they go next. Then the part no course gives you: twelve AI tutors who learn your work.

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  • Experience bandMid-Level (2-5 years)
  • Direct reportsNo direct reports
  • Reports toSenior Information Security Analyst or Lead Information Security Engineer
  • UK framework levelUsually a coordinator, or early in a professional job

Also advertised as Global Information Security Analyst · Cyber Security Analyst · Security Operations Analyst

Built on 43,079 real UK job descriptions we analysed · grounded in qualifications employers recognise

Two short quizzes about you

1From this job to a course

The qualifications matched to this job

NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry in Cyber Security (Diploma) NCFE · Level 3 · covers 6 of 12 standards
Qualifi Level 4 Diploma in Cyber Security Qualifi Ltd · Level 4 · covers 6 of 12 standards
SFJ Awards Level 4 Certificate for Protective Security Advisers SFJ Awards · Level 4 · covers 3 of 12 standards
Qualifi Level 3 Diploma in Cyber Security Management and Operations Qualifi Ltd · Level 3 · covers 3 of 12 standards
Cambridge OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma in IT Cambridge OCR · Level 3 · covers 1 of 12 standards
Cambridge OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Subsidiary Diploma in IT Cambridge OCR · Level 3 · covers 1 of 12 standards

Matched from the standards this job is measured against: a suggestion, not an official ruling.

The units you would start with

Incident response and disaster recovery NCFE Level 3 Technical Occupational Entry in Cyber Security (Diploma)
Incident Response, Investigations and Forensics Qualifi Level 4 Diploma in Cyber Security
Incident Response and Management SFJ Awards Level 4 Certificate for Protective Security Advisers
Investigations and Incident Response Qualifi Level 3 Diploma in Cyber Security Management and Operations
Networked systems security Cambridge OCR Level 3 Cambridge Technical Introductory Diploma in IT

The future skills this job leans on

Data Fluency turning numbers into a decision
Automation Fluency building AI into how work runs
Sustainability Fluency building care for people and planet into the work
Trust Fluency keeping the digital world safe
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Your Plan Illustration

Built for Information Security Analyst

5 units that map to this job, from the qualifications that cover it.

  1. Incident response and disaster recovery NCFE · covers 6 of 12 standards Level 3
  2. Incident Response, Investigations and Forensics Qualifi Ltd · covers 6 of 12 standards Level 4
  3. Incident Response and Management SFJ Awards · covers 3 of 12 standards Level 4
  4. Investigations and Incident Response Qualifi Ltd · covers 3 of 12 standards Level 3
  5. Networked systems security Cambridge OCR · covers 1 of 12 standards Level 3
These are the real units behind this job, in the order they rank for it. Nothing here is marked done, because this plan has not been started by anyone yet. Yours would fill in as you go.

2AI and this work

Will AI change your work as an Information Security Analyst?

Nobody can say exactly how. Here is what this job is being asked for next, and where to start.

The new skills this role is being asked for

  • Security Automation & Orchestration (SOAR)
  • Cloud Security Fundamentals (CSPM/CNAPP)
Why each one is rising

The future skills this job leans on

We'll only ever tell you what we can actually back up. No hype, no scare tactics.

What happens when you start

Next, a free account. We build your Information Security Analyst plan as you set up, starting with a Future Fluency module on using AI in your job. No card.

Your first Future Fluency module is free. After that, your AI tutor is £70 a month.

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3What this role really is

An information security analyst monitors networks for threats, investigates alerts, and works to close security gaps before they cause harm.

4What you'd actually use

The tools this job runs on, and how well you'd need to know each one.

SIEM Platform (Splunk) Intermediate

You'll be running pre-built queries, navigating dashboards to investigate alerts, and writing basic Search Processing Language (SPL) queries to hunt for specific events. You'll also escalate notable events for further review.

Vulnerability Management (Tenable.io) Intermediate

You'll execute credentialed and uncredentialed scans using existing templates, generate standard reports on findings, and assign remediation tickets to the right teams within the platform.

GRC & Ticketing (ServiceNow SecOps/GRC) Intermediate

You'll manage your personal queue of security incident and vulnerability tasks, update ticket statuses, and attach evidence to GRC controls following our playbooks. This is where a lot of your daily work gets tracked.

EDR Platform (CrowdStrike Falcon) Intermediate

You'll monitor the alert queue for detections, investigate suspicious activity on endpoints, and be able to isolate a host or pull process logs for initial triage under guidance.

Collaboration & Docs (Confluence/Jira) Intermediate

You'll document your findings and procedures in our Confluence templates, and update and transition Jira tickets according to team standards. This keeps everyone on the same page.

Executive Reporting (Power BI) Basic

You'll consume existing dashboards to understand team metrics and security posture. You might export data for basic ad-hoc analysis in Excel, but you won't be building complex dashboards from scratch yet.

5What you get to decide, and how that grows

Power in a job isn't your title. It's what you're allowed to decide. Here's how it grows as you move up.

The choiceComing in Where you are nowThe step above
Incident Prioritisation Escalate to supervisor for all prioritisation decisions. Prioritise standard P3/P4 incidents based on established playbooks. Escalate P1/P2 or novel incidents to Senior Analyst. Lead prioritisation for P1/P2 incidents, consulting Lead/Manager for major business impact decisions.
Vulnerability Remediation Assignment Assign based on direct instruction from supervisor. Independently assign standard vulnerability remediation tasks to identified asset owners using Tenable.io/ServiceNow. Review and approve complex vulnerability assignments, provide guidance on difficult ownership cases.
Host Isolation (for suspected malware) Execute isolation only under direct, real-time supervision. Independently isolate non-critical hosts using CrowdStrike Falcon based on clear playbook criteria. Consult for critical systems. Authorise and oversee isolation of critical production systems, ensuring minimal business disruption.
New Security Tool Evaluation No involvement in tool evaluation. Provide feedback on user experience and basic functionality of proposed tools during trials. Lead technical evaluation of new security tools, including proof-of-concept and integration testing.
Policy Changes (e.g., firewall rules) No authority to propose or implement policy changes. Propose minor policy adjustments to Senior Analyst based on observed gaps. No direct implementation authority. Design and recommend significant policy changes, drafting technical specifications for review by Lead/Manager.

6How you'll be judged

The scoreboard, and what is not on it. The hard targets, how often each is actually looked at, and the quiet signals that never reach a dashboard.

Mean Time to Acknowledge (MTTA) Critical Alerts
How quickly you pick up and start working on the most serious security alerts that come into our SIEM.
Target · Under 15 minutes

If a critical alert comes in at 10:00, you should have it assigned to yourself and be looking at it by 10:14 at the latest. We track this automatically in Splunk.

Security Incident Ticket Closure Rate
The number of standard, low-to-medium severity security incidents (like phishing reports or basic malware detections) you investigate and resolve each day.
Target · 10-15 tickets per day (depending on complexity)

You've closed 12 phishing reports, 2 low-severity EDR alerts, and one suspicious login attempt in a typical day, all with proper documentation.

SLA Adherence for Triage Tasks
Ensuring that your initial analysis and triage of alerts and vulnerability findings are completed within the agreed service level agreements.
Target · 98% of triage tasks completed within SLA

Out of 100 vulnerability findings assigned to you, 98 had their initial review and categorisation done within the 24-hour window, meaning only 2 slipped.

Vulnerability Remediation Assignment Accuracy
How accurately you identify the correct owner for a vulnerability and assign the remediation task to them in Tenable.io or ServiceNow.
Target · Less than 5% re-assignments due to incorrect owner

Out of 50 vulnerability tickets you assigned, only 2 came back because you'd sent them to the wrong team or person.

Quality of Incident Documentation
The clarity, completeness, and accuracy of your notes and reports for security incidents and investigations.
  • Your incident notes in ServiceNow are clear enough that another analyst could pick up the case without asking you questions. You include all relevant IOCs, a clear timeline, and a concise summary of the resolution. Senior analysts rarely need to ask for clarification on your reports.
Proactive Issue Identification
Your ability to spot potential problems or trends before they become major incidents, rather than just reacting to alerts.
  • You've noticed a pattern of similar low-level alerts and brought it to the team's attention, suggesting a potential underlying issue. You've flagged a misconfiguration in a cloud environment that wasn't triggering an alert but posed a risk.
Effective Communication of Technical Findings
How well you can explain complex security issues and their impact to non-technical colleagues, like a marketing manager or a product owner.
  • You can explain why a certain vulnerability is critical to a developer without using jargon, helping them understand why it needs immediate attention. You've received positive feedback from other teams about your clear and helpful explanations.
Contribution to Team Knowledge Base
How much you contribute to improving our collective understanding and processes, particularly by documenting new findings or refining existing playbooks.
  • You've updated an outdated Confluence page with a new troubleshooting step for a common alert. You've documented a new phishing campaign analysis process that the whole team can now use.

7Would you like it

Both sides. What people enjoy, and what grinds them down.

What people enjoy
Solving Complex Puzzles

You get a real kick out of taking a jumble of log entries, weird network traffic, and a cryptic alert, and piecing it all together to understand exactly what happened. It's like being a detective, but for computers.

You've spent an hour digging through Splunk logs, correlating firewall denies with unusual user logins, and finally figured out that a legitimate user's account was compromised, not just a random scan.

Protecting the Organisation

There's a genuine satisfaction in knowing your work directly contributes to keeping the company safe from cyber threats. You feel a sense of responsibility for our data and systems.

You've identified and contained a phishing attack before anyone clicked a malicious link, preventing potential credential theft and feeling proud of that immediate impact.

Continuous Learning & Skill Development

The cyber threat landscape changes constantly, and you're excited by that. You're always looking to learn about new attack techniques, new tools, or how to improve your analysis skills.

After dealing with a new type of malware, you've spent your lunch break researching its behaviour and how our EDR could have detected it earlier, then shared your findings with the team.

What frustrates people
  • The sheer volume of alerts: Alert fatigue is a real thing. After the 500th low-priority alert of the day, it's hard to treat the 501st with the seriousness it might deserve, even if it's the critical one.
  • Chasing people for remediation: You'll identify a critical vulnerability, assign it to the right team, and then spend weeks gently nudging them to actually fix it. It's a bit like herding cats.
  • Explaining the basics, repeatedly: Sometimes you'll feel like a broken record, explaining why clicking on suspicious links is bad, or why strong passwords actually matter, to colleagues who just don't seem to get it.
  • False positives: Building a detection rule that's too broad means you'll spend ages sifting through legitimate traffic, looking for a needle in a haystack that isn't even there.
  • The 3 AM 'emergency': Getting woken up by an automated page because a server went offline for scheduled maintenance that another team forgot to tell you about. It happens more often than you'd think.
What this role does not give you
  • A quiet, predictable 9-to-5: Security incidents don't care about your schedule. Sometimes, you'll need to work late or be on call.
  • A perfectly clean data set: You'll spend a lot of time cleaning up messy logs and incomplete information before you can even start your analysis.
  • Constant praise for preventing things: Most of your best work is invisible – it's the breaches that don't happen. It's not always glamorous.

8Who you work with

Your day-to-day work directly impacts our ability to detect and respond to cyber threats. Get it right, and we avoid costly breaches, maintain customer trust, and keep our regulatory obligations in check. Miss something, and the consequences can be pretty severe – financial penalties, reputational damage, and a whole lot of stress for everyone. Essentially, you're a key part of keeping the lights on and the bad guys out.

Inside the business
  • Internal IT Operations Team (they manage the servers and networks you're protecting)
  • Software Development Teams (they build the applications that need securing)
  • Legal & Compliance (they care about data protection and regulations)
  • Helpdesk (they're often the first to hear about suspicious user behaviour or phishing attempts)
  • Product Teams (they need to understand security risks for new features)
Outside the business
  • Third-party security vendors (for tools like our SIEM or EDR)
  • External auditors (when they come knocking for compliance checks)
  • Threat intelligence providers (who feed us the latest attack info)

9What you need before you start

Not a wish list. The things you would be expected to already have.

  • At least 2 years of hands-on experience in a security operations centre (SOC), IT security, or a similar role.
  • Proven ability to investigate security alerts and perform initial incident triage.
  • Demonstrable experience with at least one SIEM platform (e.g., Splunk, QRadar, Sentinel) and one EDR solution (e.g., CrowdStrike, Defender ATP).
  • A solid understanding of basic networking concepts and common operating systems (Windows, Linux).
  • Experience with vulnerability scanning tools and the ability to interpret basic vulnerability reports.
  • Strong problem-solving skills and a methodical approach to investigations.
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills; you can explain technical issues clearly.

10What to practise next

Where the job is going, and what to do about it starting this week.

Advanced Threat Hunting Techniques

Attackers are getting stealthier. We can't rely solely on automated alerts. Being able to proactively search for subtle signs of compromise, even when no alarm has gone off, is becoming a critical skill for finding advanced persistent threats.

Hypothesis Generation · Data Source Selection · Statistical Anomaly Detection · Behavioural Analysis

  • This month: Read up on common threat hunting methodologies and frameworks (e.g., Cyber Kill Chain, MITRE ATT&CK).
  • Month 2: Practice writing more complex Splunk SPL queries to find specific TTPs in our logs.
  • Month 3: Participate in a team threat hunt, shadowing a senior analyst.
  • Month 4: Propose and execute a small, targeted threat hunt based on recent threat intelligence.

Quick win: Start by regularly reviewing recent threat intelligence reports and thinking about how you'd look for those TTPs in our environment.

11Staying current once you are in

What people here do to keep up
  • Regularly participate in industry webinars and conferences (virtually or in-person) to stay current on the latest threats and technologies.
  • Engage with security communities online (e.g., Reddit's r/cybersecurity, specific vendor forums) to share knowledge and learn from peers.
  • Set up a home lab environment to experiment with new security tools, practice incident response scenarios, or learn scripting.
  • Contribute to open-source security projects or write blog posts about your security findings and insights.
  • Shadow senior analysts on complex investigations to learn advanced techniques and decision-making processes.

12The rising capability

The rising capability

Zavmo analysis

What's rising in its place

This is where the work is heading, and the higher pay with it. Get fluent here and the shift stops being a threat and starts being your edge.

Security Automation & Orchestration (SOAR)

Honestly, the volume of alerts is only going to grow. We can't keep throwing more humans at the problem. Automating repetitive tasks and orchestrating responses is becoming critical to handle the scale and speed of modern threats. Analysts who can build or adapt these automations will be invaluable.

  • Playbook Design
  • API Integration
  • Conditional Logic
  • Error Handling

Cloud Security Fundamentals (CSPM/CNAPP)

More and more of our infrastructure is moving to the cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP). If you don't understand how to secure cloud environments, you'll be missing a huge piece of the puzzle. Attackers are already focusing heavily on cloud misconfigurations.

  • Cloud Shared Responsibility Model
  • Identity and Access Management (IAM) in Cloud
  • Cloud Native Security Services
  • Infrastructure as Code (IaC) Security

13What you’ll use

What you’ll use

Skills this role draws on

Technical

  • Incident Response Lifecycle (NIST/SANS)
  • Vulnerability Triage & Prioritisation (CVSS/EPSS)
  • Cyber Kill Chain / MITRE ATT&CK Framework
  • Phishing Analysis & Triage
  • Log Analysis Fundamentals

14The pathway

The pathway

How you actually get there, here

How you become one varies far more by country than what one does. This is the UK route. Most people take one of these ways in; the right one depends on where you're starting from.

  1. 1

    Promotion from Information Security Assistant (L1)

    1-2 years

    Skills to master

    • Independent alert triage, basic vulnerability analysis, clear incident documentation, foundational scripting skills.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Consistently meeting MTTA targets for L1 alerts.
    • Demonstrating initiative in taking on more complex tasks.
    • Proactively identifying areas for process improvement.
    • Receiving positive feedback on documentation and collaboration.
  2. 2

    Graduate with Specialised Cybersecurity Degree

    2-3 years (post-graduation, including internships)

    Skills to master

    • Practical application of theoretical knowledge, hands-on experience with enterprise security tools, understanding of real-world threat landscapes.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Successful completion of security-focused internships or projects.
    • Strong understanding of security frameworks and incident response.
    • Ability to quickly adapt academic knowledge to practical scenarios.
    • Relevant certifications (e.g., Security+, CySA+).
  3. 3

    Transition from IT Support / Network Operations

    2-4 years (in previous role, plus 1-2 years focused security experience)

    Skills to master

    • Security-specific mindset (skepticism, threat modelling), incident response methodologies, use of security tools (SIEM, EDR), understanding of attack vectors.

    You're ready to move on when

    • Demonstrable interest in security (e.g., personal projects, certifications).
    • Strong foundational IT/networking knowledge.
    • Experience with troubleshooting and problem-solving in a production environment.
    • Ability to learn and apply new security concepts rapidly.

15Where this role leads

The long view: This work can lead to a lead security engineer role, designing and building security solutions, or into management, setting priorities and reporting on security posture.

16Pay and demand

Pay & demand

Typical pay £54,647 a year Source: ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, 2025 (provisional), under the Open Government Licence v3.0

The figure is the median for full-time employees in the ONS occupation this job title codes to (Cyber security professionals), from the April 2025 survey, about six months old when published, as ASHE always is. It is that occupation's middle, not this role's. Half earn more.

The ten Future Fluencies

Zavmo analysis

The credential is what you can do today. These are what keep you valuable.

A qualification proves you can do the job as it's defined today. These ten are what decide whether you're still the obvious person for it in five years. They're the capabilities employers are now writing into senior roles faster than people are learning them. Zavmo weaves them through whatever you study, so you come out with both: the credential and the fluency.

The highlighted ones are the Fluencies your role leans on hardest, from how Information Security Analyst is actually changing.

Where it leads

Roles this leads to

How you would learn this

One to one, on the work you already do

A tutor sets the task against your own job and marks the reasoning, at your pace. There is no cohort to fall behind.

A lesson from Incident response and disaster recovery, worked against Information Security Analyst.

Incident response and disaster recovery Level 3

Applied to your work in Information Security Analyst

The objective of this unit is to equip learners with the knowledge and skills to create incident response documentation and cyber security incident information documentation. Learners will understand how to monitor systems for security events and apply disaster prevention and recovery methods to support business continuity.

How the thinking builds
  1. 1 Remember
  2. 2 Understand
  3. 3 Apply
  4. 4 Analyse
  5. 5 Evaluate
  6. 6 Create
An illustration of a Zavmo lesson, built from this role’s own route. The unit, its objective and every criterion above are the awarding body’s own words, not an example.

It is £70 a month, billed monthly. Your free first module is Future Fluency, and you can cancel any time.

Start my Information Security Analyst plan, free
See Your Progress Grow Illustration
Information Security Analyst
  • Incident Response Lifecycle (NIST/SANS)
  • Vulnerability Triage & Prioritisation (CVSS/EPSS)
  • Cyber Kill Chain / MITRE ATT&CK Framework
  • Phishing Analysis & Triage
  • Log Analysis Fundamentals
This is your Mind Palace on learn.zavmo.ai. Every skill above comes from this role's own record, not an example borrowed from another job. A node lights up when you evidence it, and what you build stays yours between jobs. That is the part a course cannot do.

17The detail, folded away

Everything else the record holds

The career branches in full, how AI is already showing up in the day-to-day, and the questions people ask about this job. Here when you want them, out of the way while you decide.

Where it leads next, rung by rung

Where it leads

The career path, and where it branches

Information Security Analyst is a start, not a ceiling. Each step below asks for new skills and hands back more autonomy.

  1. Senior Information Security Analyst (L3)

    3-5 years in the L2 role

    You'll move from independently resolving standard incidents to leading the initial response for complex, high-severity events. You'll also start formally mentoring junior analysts.

    • Advanced threat hunting techniques (proactive searching)
    • Deep-dive malware analysis (understanding attack mechanics)
    • Security control tuning and optimisation (reducing false positives)
    • Scripting for automation (Python, PowerShell)
    • Cloud security investigation techniques
Working with AI on the job

Working with AI

Where AI is starting to help

Let's be real, security operations can be a bit of a grind sometimes. Sifting through endless logs, triaging alerts, drafting reports – it's all essential, but it eats up time. Here's the thing: AI isn't here to replace you; it's here to make you incredibly good at your job, faster and more accurately than ever before.

For an Information Security Analyst, AI means less time on the tedious, repetitive stuff and more time on the truly interesting, complex investigations that need your human brain. Think of it as having a highly efficient, tireless assistant for your daily security tasks.

Alert Triage Automation

Imagine your SIEM alerts automatically getting enriched with threat intelligence, user context, and asset criticality. An AI-powered SOAR platform can do this, even closing out obvious false positives or low-risk events, leaving you with only the verified, high-priority incidents that actually need your attention. That's hours saved every week, letting you focus on real threats.

Threat Pattern Recognition

Our SIEM's AI/ML features (like Splunk's User Behaviour Analytics) can chew through billions of log events in minutes. It'll spot subtle, slow-moving attack patterns that no human analyst could ever see by just looking at individual alerts. This helps us detect advanced threats much faster, turning days or weeks of manual hunting into mere hours of AI-driven insight.

Vulnerability Report Summarisation

Got a new, lengthy technical vulnerability disclosure (CVE) to deal with? Instead of spending an hour reading through dense technical specs, an LLM can ingest it and instantly generate a concise summary. You'll get the threat, its business impact, and recommended mitigation steps, all tailored for an executive audience, in minutes. Seriously, this saves you 30-60 minutes per major vulnerability.

Incident Report Drafting

After an incident, you've got all the data: timeline, IOCs, remediation steps. Feed that into an AI assistant, and it can generate a structured first draft of your post-incident report. It ensures all key sections are covered, giving you a solid starting point that you can then refine and add your human nuance to. This typically knocks 1-2 hours off your report writing time.

Common questions

Common questions

How do you become an Information Security Analyst?

Common routes in include Promotion from Information Security Assistant (1-2 years), Graduate with Specialised Cybersecurity Degree (2-3 years (post-graduation, including internships)) and Transition from IT Support / Network Operations (2-4 years (in previous role, plus 1-2 years focused security experience)). Times vary with prior experience.

Where can an Information Security Analyst progress to?

This role can lead on to Senior Information Security Analyst (3-5 years in the L2 role), depending on the skills you build.

What new skills matter most for an Information Security Analyst?

Increasingly, Security Automation & Orchestration (SOAR) and Cloud Security Fundamentals (CSPM/CNAPP). These are the skills our record of this role lists as growing.

Free tools

Want a read on where you stand?

Three free tools, no account needed. Each one ends with a role, a level and a way in.

Read the Zavmo manifesto to understand how you will be taught Meet your tutors

Or try another one

18Where to go from here

Other roles at Level 3

Same depth of qualification, different job. Useful if the work appeals but this particular role does not.

 More jobs in technology and data

Stay in the field you know and move sideways rather than up.
If you leave this industry

The skills involved apply across industries. Every organisation needs information security, so this work opens doors in finance, healthcare, tech and government. Experience in incident response, vulnerability management and security operations carries across all of them.

This role profile is © 2026 Growth Engineering Technologies Ltd. Built from UK occupational standards and regulated qualification data, and written for Zavmo.

You're not behind. You're right on time. The shift is only just beginning. Your role won't look the same in two years. Be the one who leads the change, not the one it happens to. Start my Information Security Analyst plan, free What happens next: a free account, then we build your plan as you set up. No card. Build your plan, see your roadmap and meet the twelve tutors matched to you. All free. When you're ready to start learning, it's £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.