Cybersecurity is an ever-growing issue within the tech industry, and yet the UK has found itself desperately short of the professionals needed to deal with the shortfall.
Recruitment agency Indeed recently estimated that Great Britain had the second largest cybersecurity skills deficiency in the world, with less than a third (36%) of employer demand being met.
With that in mind, what’s causing such increasing demand for expertise and how can the UK improve its cybersecurity specialist workforce?
A Sector in Constant Demand
Today, companies are in almost constant risk of cyber-crime, with hacking causing data breaches within some of the biggest names and brands across the globe.
Techniques used by hackers and cyber criminals are ever-evolving and it’s due to this trend that the demand for expertise is consistently high. For most companies, cybersecurity has become a necessary expansion to their business with many looking to build teams of experts who are prepared to deal with any issues that may arise.
Unfortunately, analysis firm Frost & Sullivan estimate that there will be a worldwide shortfall of 1.5 million information security professionals by the year 2020. While this may be a worrying statistic, it stems from a lack of experts within the current tech climate, a study by the firm found that 62% of 14,000 respondents did not have an adequate number of cybersecurity staff to handle present threats.
Bridging the Gap
The skills gap has seen improvement with the UK workforce having grown by 163% in the past five years and salaries rising by 7% to £57,000. While these are positive developments, the demand for specialist staff in cybercrime has also grown by 263%, meaning the UK still has a long way to go before supply adequately meets demand.
According to Kit Burden, Partner and Global Co-Head of Technology at law firm DLA Piper, this deficit has been partially influenced by a lack of urgency within many companies. While many firms feel there is a real threat to their technological infrastructure, they often view the risk as no more than theoretical and take only minor preventative steps.
Fortunately, this attitude is changing, and cybersecurity experts are now being viewed as invaluable to a company’s preservation. Alongside this, technology is constantly being developed to deal with the deficit, with businesses such as Maytech striving to ensure that online security can nullify the threat of hackers and cyber-criminals.
Maytech provides secure global data transfer and storage to help companies centralise and control their file sharing from anywhere in the world. With enhanced security and compliance, including full audit trails and customisable options, Maytech is a trusted solution to your cybersecurity woes.