What are my options for a career-path involving cryptography and security

Question

Hey,

I'm a student reaching a critical point - I've got to start looking for a job.
The thing I'm most passionate about is applied cryptographic protocols and I've somewhat centered my education around learning as much as possible in this area. As a fresh grad I don't expect to find many opportunities to work in this field but I still want to end up there eventually.

What are some entry level positions I should pursue that would see me end up in that domain. My goal is to be designing network interfaces for banking software and things like that, where security is essential and not just an afterthought.

Answer 1

There are a few companies worldwide that specializes in cryptography. Those companies will offer jobs for fresh grads from time to time.

Otherwise you should probably look for jobs that lets you work with C/C++, Java, network I/O and databases.

Answer 2

For the mathematical side of cryptography, you're pretty much limited to either a professor or the NSA (or whatever the equivalent is in your country).

For the applied side, there are lots of companies looking for talented engineers; just look around a bit.

Answer 3

Look for defense contracting companies. They are usually focused on weapons and whatnot for national and/or global security. A lot of these companies and their projects have to do with developing software that uses encryption and security techniques. You might also want to look into the software security companies that make anti-virus and anti-spyware applications.