New research claims the cybersecurity industry is facing a crisis, as the skills gap in the workplace has grown by a large margin over the past 12 months.
In 2021, the world lacked the 2.72 million cybersecurity professionals needed to secure cybersecurity assets — but it has now risen to 3.4 million this year.
The 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study (ISC)2, based on a survey of just under 12,000 cybersecurity professionals, claims that the cybersecurity industry workforce gap widened year-over-year by more than a quarter (26.2%) as growth continues the demand.
The growth of the epidemic industry
Claire Russo, CEO of (ISC)2 has claimed that the problem is partly that cybersecurity is overriding the hiring/pause slowdown that occurred in 2020 and 2021: the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“While we have seen the gap decrease during the height of the pandemic, most countries have made significant progress in post-pandemic recovery and continue to digitally transform a variety of back-office and public office jobs,” he said.
“The expansion in employment and the workforce in a number of sectors has rebounded after the outbreak of the pandemic as a result, including cyber security (Opens in a new tab)bringing growth in the active workforce, as well as growth in unrealized demand for cybersecurity practitioners.”
“It is also encouraging, as the gap demonstrates a growing awareness from organizations of the value of cybersecurity in their operations.”
The report also found that nearly three-quarters (72%) of organizations expect their team to grow either somewhat, or significantly, over the next year. This is in line with the general trend of growth in employment (11%).
“The fact that the workforce has grown by 11%, about 464,000 is cause for celebration. Adding nearly half a million people to the active workforce is a significant investment in online safety and defense,” Russo added.
While the lack of a qualified workforce is the number one cause of the workforce gap (43%), it is far from the only problem. (ISC)2 also noted that companies struggling to keep up with their turnover, low wages, lack of budget, lack of promotion opportunities, inadequate training, burnout, work culture and conditions – including telecommuting – all play a major role.
Across: Information Security (Opens in a new tab)