Cyber security skills gap is a major vulnerability

With news of data breaches every day, organizations are scrambling for employees with the cyber security skills required to stave off financial and reputational damages. A 2017 Ponemon Institute study declared that the average data breach in the U.S. costs $3.62 million, and IBM’s CEO Ginni Rometty has declared cybercrime to be the greatest threat to every company in the world. Cyber security is now a major part of almost all business decisions and conversations.

Alarmingly, thousands of cyber security jobs are unfilled each year, and the ISACA, a non-profit advocacy group, predicts a global shortage of two million cyber security professionals by 2019. The need to combat these threats will only intensify. Efforts need to be made to ensure that America has a high-performing and diverse workforce to meet these digital threats.

A solution to turn to is preparing the following demographics for cyber security careers: veterans, women, and young adults. A long-term strategy of supporting these groups, through training and educational programs, as well as government and private sector funding, can ensure America’s future against cybercrime.

The reasons as to why these groups would be ideal are as follows:

Veterans: Cyber security, an increasingly understaffed field, can fill gaps with U.S. military veterans, who, thanks to the U.S. military’s emphasis on skills-based training, are uniquely suited for cyber security, as it is a very skills-based sector. Veterans understand the importance of completing a mission and working as a team in challenging environments: upon leaving the service and entering the workforce, they are tailor-made for cyber security, and efforts need to be made to recruit them into the fold.

Women: A small percentage of cyber security professionals are women, with some studies showing less than 10 percent. A failure to recruit women in the cyber security workforce is going to exacerbate the problem. Bringing more women to the profession will create a more diverse cyberdefense and help reduce the skills gap. It is key to propose cyber security careers to women at an early age, to inspire them to be part of the cyber solution, alongside men.

Young adults: Another source of talent are young men and women who are making the decision to forgo university and pursue a trade. Cyber security can be that trade — employers in IT are more and more willing to hire individuals who do not possess college degrees, but have industry-recognized credentials, and who display an intrinsic drive to continuously improve their own skill sets. Young adults are already exposed early to digital technologies. It is thus an opportunity for industry to harness their potential, through accelerated training and recruitment programs, funded by the stakeholders involved.

Cyber security desperately needs attention, from everyone. Most importantly, people are needed to rise to the occasion and solve these cyber threats. The cyber security skills gap is a major vulnerability: now is the time to act and make America less vulnerable.