UPDATED 23:55 EDT / JUNE 06 2017

INFRA

Cybersecurity talent shortage set to hit 3.5M by 2021

If you’re looking for a tech job that will be in abundance in the years ahead, the cybersecurity marketplace will be the ideal place to find one, according to a newly published report on the employment prospects in the sector.

The report, from Cybersecurity Ventures Inc., found that the skills shortage will get a lot worse in the coming years. It predicts there will be a gap of 3.5 million positions globally by 2021. Of those unfilled positions, 1 million will be in India alone, with the United States experiencing half a million unfilled vacancies.

Not surprisingly, the need for more cybersecurity professionals will be driven by “the dramatic rise in cybercrime,” which is predicted to cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015. The demand is attributed to two cybercrime-driven factors. One is increased spending on services driven by a growing awareness of the risks presented by threats to digital infrastructure. The other is enterprise reliance on the Internet, which requires more robust cybersecurity solutions.

“If you’re a security professional, this is great news. Or maybe it is not,” RedSeal Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ray Rothrock told SiliconANGLE. “But for millions of companies around the globe, this is a real wakeup call.”

Rothrock said there are several ways to prepare for the shortage. “We need to learn to work smarter, to do more with less, to prioritize assets and vulnerabilities, to automate and integrate as much as possible,” he said. “Utilizing the precious scarce talent will now take a lead to capital. We must surrender the notion that every cyberattack can be thwarted with great defense.”

The fact is, he added, that “there will not be enough centurions at the gate to keep the bad guys out of our networks. Despite all of the technology we have in place, sometimes the bad guys get in.”

But he said there’s some hope. “If we can truly understand how our networks are configured and operate, and understand where our vulnerabilities lie, we’ll be prepared to better respond to attacks, protect our networks, and prevent a breach — even in the face of a skilled labor shortage crisis.”

For those looking at cybersecurity jobs, Robert Herjavec, founder and chief executive officer at Herjavec Group, offers sage advice: “I highly recommend pursuing your education in information technology or computer science… There is a zero-percent unemployment rate in cybersecurity and the opportunities in this field are endless.”

Image: Nick Youngson/CC by 3.0

A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE:

Your vote of support is important to us and it helps us keep the content FREE.

One click below supports our mission to provide free, deep, and relevant content.  

Join our community on YouTube

Join the community that includes more than 15,000 #CubeAlumni experts, including Amazon.com CEO Andy Jassy, Dell Technologies founder and CEO Michael Dell, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, and many more luminaries and experts.

“TheCUBE is an important partner to the industry. You guys really are a part of our events and we really appreciate you coming and I know people appreciate the content you create as well” – Andy Jassy

THANK YOU