How to protect your career in cybersecurity in the world of artificial intelligence

At the KazHackStan conference, Mikhail Markevich, a security advisor and expert with over 25 years of experience in cybersecurity, shared his perspective on how to protect a specialist’s career in the era of artificial intelligence.

Mikhail Markevich, Security Advisor

I have been working in cybersecurity for nearly 25 years, during which time I have tried various professions, tasks, and fields. Today marks a special moment for me: for the first time in all these years, I have lost my “airport group.” This reminded me that security is always about risks. We must be prepared, have a Plan B, and know how to counter potential attacks. Fortunately, nothing critical happened, and no serious threats emerged, but a defense scenario must exist regardless.

Many of you probably know this image. It depicts one of the professions that no longer exists—telephone switchboard operators. Telephone operators connected clients to the desired subscriber by request. The photo dates back to the 1930s. Today, such a profession no longer exists, nor do the switchboards themselves. Moreover, the familiar wired telephone service is also gradually fading into the past.

Once, this job was in extremely high demand. In major cities, there were entire buildings filled with wires and equipment for switching signals. It was an important profession of its time. But less than a century has passed, and it no longer exists.

Today, we see autonomous vehicles on the streets. And likely, in a few years, the profession of driver may become just as irrelevant. We will sit in taxis and travel in proud solitude—without a driver. This is already reality.

Both pictures are from the USA. And this is not accidental. When we talk about IT, cybersecurity, and what is happening to professions, we primarily rely on American experience. Because only there is there sufficiently fresh statistics and large-scale industry research.

And for us, their data is indicative: what is happening in the USA today, we can see in Kazakhstan in a few years. To make the conclusions convincing, we will use materials from recent publications in authoritative scientific journals.

NANDA Research, conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, shows how AI affects different industries. It developed an AI impact index on sectors. As of July-August 2025, the greatest impact is recorded in media, telecommunications, professional services, and consulting. Areas such as FinTech, banking, or mining remain more resilient for now. Therefore, if you work in the first sectors, it is worth carefully looking at how AI is already influencing your specific profession.

Changes in the IT and cybersecurity labor market: challenges and opportunities

Those working in mining may have it slightly easier. But in IT and cybersecurity, the attitude toward labor, the market, and the demand for professions are changing.

Results from another study showed that the labor market for some IT specialists is stagnating or even shrinking. The methodology was simple: the authors took data on salary payments and job diversity over the last almost three years in the USA. They analyzed whether salaries were growing and how many employees of different ages were receiving regular payments. This study proved effective and interesting because it provided real-time data on a large and diverse labor market.

What was the result? Over the last three years, the employment level of computer engineers, and primarily developers, has decreased by approximately 20%. That is, the industry continues to operate, but at the same time, the total number of jobs in development is falling, although the market as a whole is growing.

The second important fact: the situation is particularly noticeable for people aged 22 to 25. In almost all professions where artificial intelligence is actively being implemented, the market shows overall stagnation—approximately 6%. At the same time, salaries are not growing.

Together, the data shows: the labor market is shrinking or stagnating precisely for this category of young specialists. There are fewer jobs for them because there simply aren’t enough interesting tasks—a significant portion of the work is performed by artificial intelligence.

This leads to a formula:
— if an activity can be fully automated using AI or robots, such a profession gradually disappears
— if AI can be used to increase labor productivity, then specialists in that field will remain in demand.

The next important point: which professions are at risk? These are programmers, testers, technical support staff, security threat analysts, data center specialists, and others. Today, they remain important, needed, and prestigious. But this applies primarily to experienced specialists. For newcomers without practice, entering the industry is becoming increasingly difficult.

Who is in a safer zone? These are narrow-profile security experts specializing in areas where artificial intelligence is currently powerless. For example:
— security researchers
— vulnerability researchers
— cryptography specialists, essentially mathematicians
— product managers and product owners
— architects of complex systems.

These people can use AI in their work, but for now, it cannot replace them.

Strategies for adapting to the era of artificial intelligence and the importance of context

The first statement is—choose wisely what you intend to study. Check whether artificial intelligence can already perform this work. Is it worth spending time on something that will soon be automated?

The problem is that the education system in many countries has not yet restructured. Therefore, if you are studying now, there is a risk that a significant portion of the knowledge you acquire will become outdated. As a result, upon entering the labor market, you may have one or several diplomas but possess less practical experience and less relevant knowledge, because too much time was spent on formal education.

The second point is—use artificial intelligence. When deciding what to do, always ask yourself: can this work be automated? If not, there is room for personal growth and technology application in this area. Using the results of “soulless robots” to your benefit helps you be more successful and stand out among other specialists.

The third point is—mastery of context. Everyone talks about how machine learning is meaningless without context. Those who can add industry-specific details, features of a particular subject area, or project specifics to the system of knowledge gain a huge advantage. They are able to utilize AI opportunities without being completely replaced by automation.

Context is the most valuable information. It is unique to each organization, company, or project. Competition in the future will revolve around this: everyone will want AI to be trained on specific examples, but such knowledge will always be individual and accessible only to its holders.

The fourth point is—understanding how artificial intelligence works. For us, AI is yet another technological layer above the existing stack. But the more it is applied, the more vulnerabilities and attack scenarios it acquires. From the perspective of security specialists, this opens up new opportunities: possessing context and knowledge about the nature of AI, one can effectively find vulnerabilities and prevent threats.

Despite the fact that AI is capable of self-learning and anomaly detection, human control remains key. It is precisely this that keeps the system within bounds and allows us to repeatedly appear at conferences with new reports.

Fifth—when candidates enter the labor market, many are tempted to create a resume using AI—for example, asking ChatGPT to generate an “ideal” CV. At first glance, it looks great. But recruiters also check such resumes using automated means. As one American study shows, the result is often paradoxical: the candidate creates a convincing but not entirely credible resume, the system checks it, and renders a verdict—you cannot trust such an applicant. As a result, the vacancy remains unfilled.

The solution is—build a network of trust and contacts. Colleagues, recruiters, and experts need to know you as a specialist and understand what competencies you possess. And this must be confirmed by independent and easily verifiable sources.

How to achieve this? Publish code on GitHub, post research, speak at conferences. This makes you more visible and confirms that you are indeed an expert in your field.