Blue Team Member
Part of the Cybersecurity Career Guide — This article is one deep-dive in our complete guide series.
By HADESS Team | February 28, 2026 | Updated: February 28, 2026 | 5 min read
You defend networks and systems against attackers. While red teams try to break in, you build the detections, monitor the alerts, harden the infrastructure, and respond when something goes wrong. You are the reason attackers do not get to roam freely through an environment.
What You Will Do
Blue team work is a mix of proactive hardening and reactive monitoring. You spend part of your time improving defenses and part of your time investigating alerts and hunting for threats that have not triggered any rules yet.
Your daily work includes:
- Monitoring SIEM dashboards for suspicious activity (Splunk, Elastic, Microsoft Sentinel)
- Writing and tuning detection rules to reduce false positives and catch real attacks
- Hardening operating systems, network devices, and cloud environments
- Analyzing Windows Event Logs, Sysmon, and Linux audit logs for indicators of compromise
- Investigating phishing emails and suspicious attachments
- Implementing and maintaining EDR solutions (CrowdStrike, SentinelOne, Defender for Endpoint)
- Managing firewall rules, IDS/IPS signatures, and network segmentation
- Participating in purple team exercises alongside red team operators
- Documenting playbooks and procedures for common incident types
- Performing regular vulnerability scans and tracking remediation
You also work closely with system administrators, network engineers, and development teams to improve the overall security posture. When the red team runs an exercise, you are the one trying to catch them.
Skills You Need
Blue team skills span detection engineering, system hardening, and incident investigation.
Build these capabilities:
- SIEM administration and query languages — SPL, KQL, Lucene
- Windows security and Active Directory defense — Group Policy, event log analysis, Kerberos monitoring
- Linux security — auditd, syslog, file integrity monitoring
- Network security monitoring — Zeek, Suricata, packet capture analysis
- EDR and endpoint security — deployment, tuning, investigation
- Threat detection engineering — writing SIGMA rules, YARA rules, custom detections
- Incident triage and investigation — structured approach to alert validation
- Scripting for automation — Python, PowerShell for automating defensive tasks
Track your progress in the skills library and see how blue team skills connect to other roles in the career path explorer.
Certifications
Blue team certifications demonstrate your ability to detect and respond to threats:
- CySA+ — CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst, good entry point for defensive work
- GCIH — GIAC Certified Incident Handler, covers detection and response
- SEC505 — SANS Securing Windows and PowerShell Automation
- SEC506 — SANS Securing Linux/Unix, essential for mixed environments
Map out your certification plan with the certification roadmap planner.
Salary Range
Blue team members earn between $24K and $138K. Entry-level analysts start at the lower end, while experienced detection engineers and senior defenders with SIEM expertise and incident response skills earn toward the top. Specializing in a particular SIEM platform or cloud environment can increase your value.
Check where you stand using the salary calculator.
How to Get Started
1. Learn networking and operating system fundamentals — you defend what you understand 2. Set up a home lab with a SIEM — install Elastic SIEM or Splunk Free and start ingesting logs 3. Take the skills assessment to identify your defensive skill gaps 4. Practice in the labs — work through detection and response scenarios 5. Study the MITRE ATT&CK framework — learn what attackers do so you can detect it 6. Get CySA+ or Security+ as your first cert — plan it with the certification planner 7. Write detection rules — SIGMA rules, YARA signatures, custom SIEM queries 8. Build your professional profile with the resume builder 9. Apply for SOC analyst or junior security analyst roles on the job board
Not sure if blue team is the right fit? Talk to the career coach about whether your skills and interests align better with defensive, offensive, or a hybrid role.
Related Guides in This Series
Take the Next Step
Start your career assessment. Go to the start your career assessment on HADESS.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What certifications do I need for this role?
Certification requirements vary by employer and seniority level. Use the certification roadmap planner to build a sequence based on your target role and current qualifications.
What is the salary range for this role?
Salaries vary significantly by location, experience, and employer type. Use the salary calculator for your specific market rate.
How do I transition into this career path?
Take the skills assessment to identify your current strengths and gaps relative to this role. The assessment generates a personalized learning plan to close the gap.
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HADESS Team consists of cybersecurity practitioners, hiring managers, and career strategists who have collectively spent 50+ years in the field.
