How often do you come across journals or snippets in the news talking about the skill shortage in the cybersecurity industry? Very, isn’t it? Be prepared to read more on this as the gap continues to widening, making hiring challenges even more complex. The question here is really, “do we really lack people or there is any other change that we should bring in to evaluate and engage with the talent pool?”
| To what extent does the cybersecurity skill gap exist? | |||||
| Between September 2017 and August 2018 U.S. had job openings of 313,735 approximately. [1] | The openings are in addition to 715,000 the workforce currently employed in cybersecurity across the country. [1] | ||||
| Within cybersecurity realm, there are 2.3 cybersecurity workers only for every job opening. [3] | |||||
 [2] |
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| Job Openings in major cities of U.S. [4] | |||||
| Washington D.C. | New York | Dallas | Chicago | Los Angeles | |
| 44,058 | 20,243 | 12,062 | 11,201 | 10,589 | |
| U.S. Job Postings on Cybersecurity [1] | |||||
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The widening cybersecurity skills gap is creating an unaffordable solution of seizing the gap which is based on the combination of the latest tools and expertise. The reason for the skill shortage are many –
- Lack of investment in education and training,
- Inefficiency of cybersecurity industry to market as a potential career growth
- Faster evolving technologies compared to education programs
- Escalating cyberthreats at the unprecedented rate
- The growing gender gap, and more.
Having a strong pipeline from talent pool can be considered as an important measure in overcoming skill gap problem. How this pool can be built?
Government Initiative
The government can take the initiative to bring cybersecurity education into the classroom at every level of academics. The same shall be included as part of the teacher training program too. Bringing awareness will develop interest among students to consider ‘IT security’ as a prospective career in their future. Even though there are university-level programs, students are graduating without knowing their options or are not educated on the potential prospects that the industry drives.
Organization Support
Organizations are yet to embrace cybersecurity fully. With just 37% of the organizations investing in cybersecurity training programs, there exist a gap in its education plan. [5] Management should initiate internal training programs for their staff to bring awareness on IT security. When organizations fail to recognize IT infrastructure security as one of their investments to safeguard their IT assets, cybersecurity may not find place in the board meetings. Organizations tend to hire an independent team of security professionals who are trained with the latest methodologies. Inhouse training and hiring expertise from the outside are both seen as alarming requirements to have a self-efficient cybersecurity workforce.
Cybersecurity Education
Developing exhaustive cybersecurity experts should be the aim of educational institutions. With almost zero percent cybersecurity unemployment, the industry has ample opportunities for enthusiasts. Universities or training institutes share equal responsibility with the government to brining awareness on the potential career sector that lies with cybersecurity. Recognition, scholarship, placement assistance, industry collaborations, etc. are few of the initiatives that educational institutions offering cybersecurity training consider. Universities shall have the potential to offer robust and latest cybersecurity methodologies and equip them with industry certifications too.
Do you want to be a solution to the huge demand for cybersecurity? If yes, then start your career with EC-Council University which offers bachelor and master level degree programs in cybersecurity. As a beginner, you can opt for Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity (BSCS) which is a two-year online degree certification program that also brings you an opportunity to avail industry certifications from EC-Council. If you are not sure of dedicating to the university for the entire duration, then you can also join as Non-Degree status and later upgrade to a full-fledged degree, if interested.
Sources
[1] https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2018/11/08/demand-cybersecurity-professionals/ [2] https://www.digitalinformationworld.com/2018/10/how-do-we-stop-widening-cybersecurity-talent-gap.html [3] https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html [4] https://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/89567-data-greater-demand-for-cybersecurity-professionals-by-us-employers [5] https://www.information-age.com/organisations-failing-invest-security-gdpr-123471229/
