This is the first article in a series on the talent shortage in the cybersecurity industry. Stay tuned for more.
According to a TechWeekly infographic from ISACA and Cybersecurity Nexus, there will be a global shortage of 2 million cybersecurity professionals by 2019. That’s a huge gap for an industry that’s constantly trying to keep up with new strains of malware and daily hacking incidents.
To further illustrate the increasing talent gap:
- There was 3x the rate of cybersecurity job growth vs. IT jobs overall from 2010-2014
- 84% of organizations say less than half of applicants are qualified for open cybersecurity positions
- 53% of companies experience delays as long as 6 months in finding the right candidate
With so much of our world revolving around technology, how did this skills shortage happen in the first place?
Education Deficits
Even though the United States and Great Britain rank highest in cybersecurity spending on education, there still aren’t that many programs specifically for this industry. According to a report from Intel Security, only 7% of top colleges offered an undergraduate major or minor in cybersecurity.
Even worse, a bachelor’s degree is typically required for entry-level cybersecurity positions, yet so few schools offer them.
Furthermore, only 23% of Intel’s survey participants said these education programs are sufficiently preparing students to enter a cybersecurity workforce.
Government Shortfalls
76% of respondents felt their government isn’t investing enough money in cybersecurity skills, and said their laws and regulations weren’t doing enough to combat cyber crime. This includes funding for educational programs.
The White House has hired 3,000 cybersecurity government employees since October of 2015, but still had plans to hire another 3,500 more by January 2017.
However, government wages are already generally lower than the public sector, and it takes an average of six months to hire quality talent.
Without an increase in government spending, the gap is going to keep increasing as well.
Industry Underrepresentation
According to the Women’s Society of Cyberjutsu, only 11% of the world’s information security workforce are women. That’s a huge gap for a field that’s expected to grow to a gap of 2 million jobs in two years.
Even worse, African-Americans make up only 3% of the information security analysts in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For an industry that’s in desperate need of top talent, more outreach needs to be done to minorities already underrepresented in the cybersecurity field.
According to report from Raytheon, 69% of women say that no high school career counselor ever mentioned a career path in cybersecurity to them, from a sample aged 18-26.
The next piece in this series will cover what this talent shortage looks like across the cybersecurity sector.
