Published on February 8th, 2018 | by Sunit Nandi

Demand for Cyber Security Professionals on the Increase

It wasn’t long ago, 2013 in fact, when Cisco was reporting that there were as many as a million cybersecurity positions around the country going unfilled. One group, Cybersecurity Ventures, is projecting that this will increase to 3 and a half million in a three years’ time. In spite of this shortage, many speakers at this years WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Executive Forum in New York struck a more optimistic tone.

Here’s a summary of what was said by a number of the key speakers at the event:

Jennifer Steffens, CEO, IOActive

Jennifer Steffens’ talk highlighted the increasing awareness, among organizations of all kinds, of the importance of investing in cybersecurity. Raising awareness among the general public of the importance of cybersecurity has long been a goal of the cybersecurity industry but has proven to be a more difficult undertaking than many were expecting.

However, if more is not still done to increase awareness of the important role that cybersecurity has to play in the modern industrial and business environments, then the shortage in the workforce will continue to grow. This is something that all cybersecurity managers should remain mindful of.

She also noted the diverse pool of talent that exists globally, and the huge potential that this offers for many different organizations.

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Pete Chronis, CISO, Turner

Turner is a media company that owns some of the most notorious brands in the fields of entertainment and news. Pete Chronis’s role as an information security officer means that he is perfectly positioned to witness the importance of cybersecurity in a business setting every day. He says that his company doesn’t have a problem attracting enough qualified applicants for cybersecurity, but they do have trouble recruiting people who can demonstrate individual flair.

Turner is exactly the kind of large corporation that budding cybersecurity engineers dream of working for. However, they have learned that it is not enough to draw in large numbers of applications. Businesses need an effective way of vetting candidates and a diverse hiring policy so that they can attract the most diverse range of skills possible.

Jeremy King, Benchmark Executive Search

Jeremy King agrees that the biggest challenge in recruiting cybersecurity experts is in securing the absolute top-tier professionals who excel far beyond minimal requirements. King has previously sat on panels covering cybersecurity at WSJ events. He also highlighted that cybersecurity was a people problem, owing to a lack of good security implementation, rather than a technology problem.

With cyber crime being a growing threat to both corporations and governments, the importance of cybersecurity is becoming clearer by the day. While there are now a large number of unfilled cybersecurity positions among most economic sectors, there is still some way to go in making everyone aware of the dangers of lax cybersecurity.

Tags: cyber security, demand, increase, professionals

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.