Nice, this is a timely challenge for me since I’m making a career switch from UX/UI design towards cyber security (background is CompSci so get to dust off some knowledge I didn’t get to apply much since graduation).
In my area cyber security companies only hire people with the same background and experience. Without that, HR will just filter you out.
I'm like you, CompSci degree with embedded background and working on my Offensive Security certificate.
I’ll be talking to contacts in cybersec and HR/recruitment departments in my area since the hiring filter is a bit of a concern. I’m used to going around HR, but not sure how that plays out in this industry. Despite doing front-end and full-stack development for every position I’ve had I do feel I need to groom my experience a bit to downplay my UX/UI contributions. Worst case is I get certs like the OSCP you’re getting to speed things up.
But I never really got tired of programming and at this point in my life the latter meshes better with what I’m interested in – privacy, encryption, hardening or subverting systems, etc. – than the former. I also get to reapply knowledge that was abstracted away while I predominantly did front-end development.