Cybersecurity Guide

Cybersecurity degrees and training programs in San Francisco

Written by Gray Oshin – Last updated:
In this guide

Here is an overview of cybersecurity in San Francisco. It covers the city’s latest and relevant information security trends, such as educational opportunities, bootcamps, employment facts, and salaries. 

With over a hundred cybersecurity companies, San Francisco is a great place to find information security and IT-related opportunities. It is the second most populated city in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is home to Silicon Valley, the world’s largest technology hub.

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Featured Cybersecurity Degree Programs

School NameProgram More Info
Grand Canyon UniversityOnline BS in Cybersecurity or Online MS in Cybersecurity website
UC Berkeley School of InformationMaster’s in Cybersecurity | No GRE/GMAT Required website
Southern New Hampshire UniversityOnline BS in Cybersecurity or Online MS in Cybersecurity website
Purdue GlobalOnline BS in Cybersecurity website
Utica UniversityOnline BS in Cybersecurity website

Many global corporations, such as Coinbase, Airbnb, DropBox, Twitter, Uber, and Slack are headquartered in San Francisco.

However, the presence of these large companies that handle sensitive user data makes San Francisco a prime target for cyberattacks.

For instance, the San Francisco International Airport confirmed two separate data breaches in 2020 as hackers attempted to steal staff usernames and passwords.

Two years later, the San Francisco 49ers suffered a huge data breach, which compromised the Social Security Numbers of 20,930 individuals. The University of California, San Francisco was also forced to pay hackers $1.1 million after a breach on its medical school servers.

San Francisco’s recently revised Citywide Cybersecurity Policy (COIT) shows dedication to building impenetrable cybersecurity solutions that support and secure critical infrastructure and data systems.

The policy mandates all city departments to appoint a Departmental Information Security Officer (DISO) and adopt a cybersecurity framework (NIST), among many other requirements.

In addition, the presence of a military base such as the US Coast Guard Air Station also makes San Francisco a cybersecurity-conscious location. 

The city has a handful of cybersecurity educational opportunities. Institutions like the City College of San Francisco and the University of San Francisco have nationwide recognized degrees and other programs in this field.

There are also many industry-recognized certificate providers in the area. For more info about cybersecurity in California (along with additional school, certifications, and bootcamp information) be sure to check out the complete state guide.

Cybersecurity courses and training available in San Francisco

San Francisco has several information security courses and training programs available. These courses are delivered online or onsite at the training provider’s location.

Organizations and teams can also schedule private cybersecurity training at their preferred location. Here are examples of online and onsite/in-person cybersecurity courses and training in San Francisco.

SANS San Francisco SEC 504: Hacker tools, techniques, and incident handling

The SEC 504 is a comprehensive course providing hands-on incident response investigation skills. This course is available live online or in-person at Parc 55 Hotel, 55 Cyril Magnin ST, San Francisco, California, USA, 94102. Students can also apply for hotel spaces through SANS at a discounted rate.

  • Duration: The SANS Golden Gate 2024 event is a 6-day cybersecurity training program.
  • Aim: This training aims to provide critical skills in detection and incident response to minimize a company’s losses. 
  • Modules: Students will be taught Incident Response and Cyber Investigations, Password and Access Attacks, Public-Facing and Drive-By Attacks, etc.
  • Course cost: This course costs $8,525 and may increase depending on hotel or certification costs.

Other cybersecurity courses from SANS include Cloud Security Essentials, Enterprise Penetration Testing, etc. Here is complete information about the SANS Golden Gate training and important prerequisites. 

BrainStation cybersecurity course

Although BrainStation offers onsite and online training options, the cybersecurity course in San Francisco is only available online. 

  • Duration: 9 to 12 weeks.
  • Aim: BrainStation’s cybersecurity courses provide students with foundational skills and principles to enhance awareness of information security, network, and data security. Students will learn how to identify security vulnerabilities and threats and prevent cyberattacks.
  • Modules: This course has four units; Introduction to cybersecurity, cyber attacks, risk management, and incident management. 
  • Course cost: $3,250 for single payment. Costs may differ for installment payment plans.

Upon completion, you will receive a BrainStation certificate. You can meet the tutors and learn more about the cybersecurity course.

General Assembly Cybersecurity and Data Science Workshop

This workshop combines cybersecurity and data science. It is held at the General Assembly’s campus at 225 Bush Street, 5th Floor (East Entrance), San Francisco, CA 94104.

  • Duration: The class duration is not stated but could be between 1 day to 5 days or more.
  • Aim: This workshop teaches students to apply data science techniques in cybersecurity applications.
  • Modules: Students will learn basic cybersecurity and data science principles, cybersecurity challenges, and data science use cases in cybersecurity. 
  • Course cost: This is a free class.  

See full info on the General Assembly cybersecurity and data science class.

The City of San Francisco Mandatory Employee Training

All city employees are required to take two annual training programs – the Whistleblower Program Training and the Cybersecurity Training.

The cybersecurity training lasts up to 60 minutes and is free. You can see full information on the employee training requirements from The City and County of San Francisco.

Cybersecurity bootcamps and certifications available in San Francisco

Cybersecurity bootcamps can help you transition into cybersecurity and kickstart your career with the required skills or increase competency in certain aspects of InfoSec. Here are some cybersecurity bootcamps and certifications in San Francisco.

City College of San Francisco – Network security (cybersecurity) certificate 

The City College of San Francisco offers a group of campus-based cybersecurity certificate courses – the Network Security (Cybersecurity) program. These programs prepare students for employment in the network security field.

Students will be taught analysis, security risks, and protection techniques for mobile devices, computers, telephone networks, and web applications. The City College of San Francisco is located at 50 Frida Kahlo Way, San Francisco, CA 94112, USA.

Berkeley cybersecurity bootcamp

The Berkeley Cybersecurity Bootcamp is a University of California Berkeley extension in San Francisco. It is a part-time online program that lasts 24 weeks. This bootcamp provides a multidisciplinary approach to proficiency in IT, networking, and information security.

Berkeley’s curriculum provides foundational knowledge and hands-on experience for real-life application. Although this is an online bootcamp, Berkeley’s campus is at 160 Spear St, San Francisco, CA 94105 US.

Flatiron school online cybersecurity analytics

The Flatiron School online cybersecurity analytics program is an online bootcamp. However, Flatiron School has a campus at 1460 Mission St., San Francisco, California, 94103, for in-person training.

It is a 4-month bootcamp with classes held on weekdays or evenings. The intensive cybersecurity program prepares students for careers as cybersecurity analysts, consultants, and Tier 1+ SOC analysts.

Students will be taught foundation skills in network and system administration, growth hacking, penetration testing, mobile security, and virtualization. The program costs $17,900. See full info about the Flatiron cybersecurity engineering courses.

Other bootcamp providers in San Francisco are Hack Reactor and MakerSquare, App Academy, and Nucamp. These bootcamps are predominantly coding and software engineering, but some include Linux and Python, which are crucial in information security. Although the Nucamp courses are online, most of the instructors are San Francisco-based.

Learn more about professional certifications

Cybersecurity schools and degrees in San Francisco

San Francisco has a handful of schools where you can earn cybersecurity degrees. As information security has become critical to the city’s development, most schools include information security in IT courses, such as Computer Science. 

San Francisco’s proximity to Silicon Valley, a hub of thousands of high-tech companies, means students can gain valuable work experience during and after their degree programs.

California is also working hard to become one of the country’s most secure information security states, especially after the state passed the country’s first cybersecurity law – the SB-327. 

Cybersecurity jobs, salaries, and companies in San Francisco

Several IT and InfoSec companies are headquartered in San Francisco. Large corporations in Finance, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Social Media, and Transportation that handle private customer information are located in the city.

Companies like Securitize, Wells Fargo, Twitter, Atlassian, Salesforce, and Uber are the largest employers in San Francisco.

Due to the presence of such large companies, there are an estimated 25,896 people employed in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward cybersecurity workforce alone. There are also an estimated 7,993 cybersecurity roles still yet to be filled.

Learn more about cybersecurity careers

Below is a detailed list of cybersecurity jobs in San Francisco and their respective salaries according to the job-seeking site, Indeed. Skills will vary based on the company’s needs.

  • CYBERSECURITY ANALYST 
    • Average salary of $76,554. 
    • Skills Required – Azure, COBIT, Encryption, Communication Skills, ISO 27001, Active Directory, IDS, Computer Networking, and Firewall.
  • PENETRATION TESTER
    • Average salary of $128,118. 
    • Skills Required: AWS, .NET, Burp Suite, Bash, Encryption, Information Security, C#, and C++.
  • SYSTEMS ENGINEER
    • Average salary of $140,819. 
    • Skills Required: AWS, DNS, Azure, Java, Active Directory, C++.
  • CYBERSECURITY CONSULTANT 
    • Average salary of $123,540. 
    • Skills Required: Information Security, Cloud Security, NIST Standards, Security Foundation & Threat Intelligence, Preventative Antivirus, Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service.
  • CYBERSECURITY MANAGER  
    • Average salary of $151,902.
    • Skills Required: Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) Management, Cybersecurity Strategy, Cloud Security, Security Insider Threat Management, and Enterprise Mission Assurance Support Service.
  • CYBERSECURITY ARCHITECT 
    • Average salary of $167,553. 
    • Skills Required: Cloud Security, Public Cloud Security, SABSA, Container Security, and Microservices.

Besides these roles, you can also leverage the Cybersecurity Apprenticeship Program available at the City College of San Francisco. It is an 18-month paid program ($39/hour) of 40 hours of on-the-job training and 8 hours of instruction weekly.

Required courses for the apprenticeship are Firewalls, Ethical Hacking and Network Defense, and Information Security Professional Practices. 

Cyberseek Data shows that the demand for cybersecurity talents in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward metro area is very high. In addition, more than 7,993 job openings in the area request certification.

With the high concentration of bootcamps, training, and high-tech companies in Silicon Valley, San Francisco is one of the best US cities to be a cybersecurity professional.

Cybersecurity program listings in San Francisco

  1. City College of San Francisco

    San Francisco, California
    Program: Computer Networking & Information Technology AS Degree
    CAE designation: CAE-CD
    Credits: 66
    Cost per credit: $46 in state | $358 out of state
    Delivery Method: Campus, Online
    Learn more: Program details

  2. City College of San Francisco

    San Francisco, California
    Program: Advanced Certificate in Cybersecurity
    CAE designation: CAE-CD
    Credits: 15
    Cost per credit: $46 in-state | $358 out of state
    Delivery Method: Campus
    Learn more: Program details

  3. Springboard

    San Francisco, California
    Program: Cybersecurity Bootcamp
    Credits: 6 months
    Cost per credit: $11,900
    Delivery Method: Online
    Learn more: Program details

  4. The University of California, Hastings College of the Law

    San Francisco, California
    Program: LL.M. Science, Technology & Intellectual Property Specialization
    Credits: 24
    Cost per credit: $1,979
    Delivery Method: Campus
    GRE/GMAT Required: Not Required
    Learn more: Program details