As of 2018, the United States has over 300,000 unfilled cybersecurity related positions. Over 50% of organizations have a skills shortage of cybersecurity talent, up from just 23% back in 2014. According to IT professionals, the shortage in talent problem is cited as the greatest challenge facing their organization across a whole spectrum of industries. For the rest of the world, the situation doesn’t look any better.
For years, the cybersecurity talent shortage has been an issue facing organizations for years and as cybersecurity threats grow, the need for dedicated in-house teams has only increased. As a whole, the global projected demand for cybersecurity talent will reach 3.5 million positions by 2021. India alone will need one million positions filled and even currently in Australia, 88% of IT decision-makers say there is a national shortage of cybersecurity professionals. As the disconnect of supply and demand continues to grow, how can business get the security solutions they need in spite of the shortage?
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Education opportunities stand as the best and most reliable solution to solving the talent shortage, albeit offering slow improvements. Currently cybersecurity professionals in the field enjoy a near 0% unemployment rate giving them much higher than job safety levels than average employees. Standing out to students as an excellent career option, we can expect more and more graduates of cybersecurity studies from programs like Princeton’s Master of science Engineering and Dartmouth’s Master of scientific in Information Technology. Still, organizations need to have reliable solutions immediately, and waiting for talent to present itself isn’t a viable option.
For businesses struggling to hire cybersecurity talent, alternatives like managed security programs become a boon. As a cost-effective option for cybersecurity needs and operating in much the same way an in-house team would, MSPs offer scalable, user friendly, and reliable cybersecurity maintenance for every size business. In the interim time of finding, hiring, and training competent cybersecurity team members, organizations can rest easy that their security needs are met as the talent gap slowly shrinks. These options paired with long-term goals of growing in-house cybersecurity options can help close the gap and keep businesses safe at the same time.
October is National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and what better way to reflect on the importance of cybersecurity than a look at the dire need for cybersecurity professionals. Take a look at this infographic for more detail on the cybersecurity skills shortage, what we can expect for the future of cybersecurity talent, and how businesses are managing amidst the shortage.
