3C171 Career Guide
3C171: Cybersecurity Technician
Career transition guide for Air Force Cybersecurity Technician (3C171)
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Top civilian roles for 3C171 veterans, with average salary and market demand data.
Information Security Analyst
Skills to develop:
Network Security Engineer
Skills to develop:
IT Risk Manager
Skills to develop:
Security Consultant
Skills to develop:
Data Security Analyst
Skills to develop:
Salary estimates from VWC career data
Hidden Strengths
Cognitive skills your 3C171 training built — and where they transfer.
Adversarial Thinking
You constantly anticipate threats to IT systems, thinking like a potential attacker to identify vulnerabilities and proactively defend against intrusions.
You can anticipate potential problems and devise proactive solutions, making you excellent at risk management and strategic planning.
Procedural Compliance
You meticulously adhere to national, DoD, and Air Force security policies and directives, ensuring all IT operations meet stringent regulatory requirements.
You are highly skilled at following established protocols and guidelines, which translates to ensuring accuracy and consistency in any regulated industry.
System Modeling
You develop a deep understanding of complex IT systems and their interdependencies to assess vulnerabilities and implement comprehensive security measures.
Your ability to understand complex systems allows you to create models and simulations for predicting outcomes and optimizing performance.
Situational Awareness
You constantly monitor IT environments for unusual activity, maintaining a broad awareness of potential threats and vulnerabilities to ensure Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA) of IT resources.
You are adept at quickly assessing situations and identifying potential risks, enabling you to make informed decisions in fast-paced environments.
After-Action Analysis
You investigate security-related incidents, conduct IT forensic investigations, and analyze the effectiveness of security measures to improve future responses and prevent recurrence.
You excel at learning from past events, identifying root causes of problems, and implementing corrective actions to prevent future issues.
Non-Obvious Career Matches
Compliance Officer
SOC 13-1041You've been rigorously enforcing security policies and regulations within the Air Force. As a Compliance Officer, you'll use that expertise to ensure companies adhere to industry standards and legal requirements, mitigating risks and maintaining ethical practices.
Fraud Investigator
SOC 13-2099You've honed your skills in identifying and investigating security breaches. As a Fraud Investigator, you can apply that same mindset to uncover fraudulent activities within organizations, protecting their assets and reputation.
Business Continuity Planner
SOC 13-1199You've maintained system integrity under pressure. As a Business Continuity Planner, you'll create strategies to ensure business operations can continue running in worst case scenarios.
Training & Education Equivalencies
Cybersecurity Fundamentals and Administration Course, Keesler AFB, MS
Topics Covered
- •Network Security Fundamentals
- •Risk Management Framework (RMF)
- •Security Incident Response
- •Information Assurance (IA) Tools and Technologies
- •Vulnerability Assessment and Penetration Testing
- •COMSEC Management
- •Security Policy and Compliance
- •Cybersecurity Forensics
Certification Pathways
Partial Coverage
While the training covers many security concepts, studying specific exam objectives related to risk management, cryptography, and security infrastructure is recommended.
The 3C171 role touches on all CISSP domains, but requires significant study of management practices, legal issues, and the software development lifecycle to pass the exam.
While experience managing networks is valuable, a deeper dive into networking protocols, routing, and troubleshooting is needed.
Recommended Next Certifications
Technical Systems Translation
Military systems you've used and their civilian equivalents for your resume.
| Military System | Civilian Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Assured Compliance Assessment Solution (ACAS) | Tenable Nessus vulnerability scanner |
| Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service (eMASS) | Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) platforms |
| Host Based Security System (HBSS) | McAfee Endpoint Security |
| Automated Security Incident Measurement (ASIM) | Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) systems like Splunk or QRadar |
| Remedy Action Request System | ServiceNow IT Service Management |
| Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) | IT service management best practices |
| Communications Security (COMSEC) equipment (e.g., KG-175D) | Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) and encryption devices |
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