While stories of sophisticated and targeted cyberattacks continue to dominate the headlines, a more pervasive cybersecurity threat has been quietly bubbling up. It is one that presents as much of a threat to our society as any hacker: the cybersecurity skills gap crisis.
Just how real is the crisis? Global demand has reached over 4 million unfilled cybersecurity positions worldwide. The workforce shortage and need for cybersecurity professionals mean that cybersecurity’s unemployment rate currently sits at zero percent. Despite the crisis, there is also a lot of room for opportunity and growth in the cybersecurity career landscape.
The crisis creates an increased workload put on existing cybersecurity staff. Security teams spend the majority of their time firefighting and little time ramping up for data breaches. Cybercriminals are capitalizing on this predicament by finding new ways to commit cyber fraud at an alarming rate – making the crisis a top concern in this digital world for education, businesses, government, and all kinds of organizations.
In the increasingly digital world, the cybersecurity skills gap crisis comes to the forefront. So how did we get here in the first place? And how can we work to empower the future workforce and solve this crisis? Let us take a look.
How Did We Get Here?
There is little doubt that the rise in cybersecurity threats has greatly helped to create a gap in security skills and professionals. But demand is only part of the skills gap story. The bigger problem for many organizations seeking to hire cybersecurity talent is that supply cannot keep pace.
While specialized security experts quickly get snatched up by large corporations, other businesses—such as hospitals, manufacturers, and retail shops—need the expertise too. These smaller enterprises find themselves more frequent targets of hackers because of their lack of appropriate staff, and because they often act as conduits to larger targets: major partners and lots of customers.
Many security experts believe that not only have businesses underestimated the scale of the problem cybercrime poses and the speed at which the skills gap crisis has been growing, they have also failed to properly communicate the significant need for cybersecurity professionals to policymakers, educational institutions, and the public at large.
Closing the Gap
Solving the cybersecurity skills gap crisis requires a different way of thinking.
One of the most effective ways is to address the root of the problem and try to solve the workforce shortage. Closing the gap means starting from the fundamentals and teaching people the hands-on, practical skills they need in order to land these cybersecurity jobs.
With the cybersecurity skills gap crisis increasing year over year, the solution needs to be accelerated and fit the needs of the community. In this post-pandemic world, that means a program that is fully-employment focused and flexible, as our work from home and remote learning circumstances remain uncertain and continue to evolve every day.
The Cybint Cybersecurity Bootcamp is an example of a blended platform that is fully career-accelerated and able to be completed within three to six months. The cybersecurity skills gap crisis needs a solution that is efficient and fast, because as the gap continues to grow, many businesses will be left unprotected against these cyber threats and attacks.
To learn more about our Cybersecurity Bootcamp, download our free guide or contact us.
