Is cyber security a 9-5 job?

Is cyber security a 9-5 job in Australia depends on the specific role, but generally many cyber security roles are 9-5 with occasional after-hours work, while some operational roles require shift work and on-call. Governance, risk and compliance roles, security awareness training, policy development, security architect and consultant roles are typically 9-5 Monday to Friday office hours, with salaries $100K to $180K and good work-life balance. Security analyst and SOC analyst roles that monitor security alerts often work in shifts, including 24/7 SOC requiring night shifts, weekends and 12-hour rotations, especially in large banks, telcos and managed security service providers, with shift penalties and higher pay. Incident response and penetration testing roles are mostly 9-5 but require on-call for incidents, meaning you may be called at 2am if ransomware hits, which happens a few times per year. CISO and Head of Security roles are often 9-5 plus on-call for major incidents and board meetings. For small businesses, cyber security may be part of IT role that is 9-5. According to Hays and Seek, about 60% of cyber security jobs in Australia are advertised as standard business hours, 30% include on-call allowance, and 10% are shift work. Many employers offer flexible work and work from home. So while core hours are 9-5, you should expect occasional after-hours incident response, especially during major cyber attacks, but it is not consistently night shift unless you are in SOC.