The cybersecurity skills gap continues to be a real issue, but there may finally be a light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time, the skills gap has decreased, according to (ISC)2’s annual Cybersecurity Workforce Study.
This study defines the skills gap as “the difference between the number of skilled professionals that organizations need to protect their critical assets and the actual capacity available to take on this work. It is not an estimate of open positions available to applicants.”
The good news is that there has been an uptick in people with the right skills for hire. More than 700,000 new cyber defense experts were added over the last year, putting the total number at 3.5 million. That 3.5 million number, however, is about half of the jobs still needing to be filled.
The bad news is that the number of job slots has decreased due to uncertainty during the pandemic. But there are skilled professionals out there if you know how and where to look.
Current State of the Cybersecurity Skills Gap
The pandemic showed the importance of having entry-level cybersecurity teams who can cover a broad range of problems, such as getting employees set up with virtual private networks and awareness training refresher courses. It also highlighted that having someone in-house, or on call, who can handle the more refined, more specific problems — in this case, cloud security — is key.
Those already in the field rose to the challenge last year to relocate their workforce from on-site to remote. Nearly a third of (ISC)2’s annual hiring cloud experts despite cybersecurity skills
