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Summary
The demand for qualified cybersecurity specialists is growing due to the increase in online threats. However, 68% of organizations are struggling with staff shortages in this area, according to the 2023 Global Cyber Skills Gap survey by Fortinet.
56% of companies have difficulty recruiting the right people for IT Security positions, and 54% experience high employee turnover in these roles. The global market needs approximately 4 million cybersecurity specialists to meet demand.
The number of companies experiencing five or more cyberattacks increased by 53% in 2021-2022. 84% of surveyed organizations experienced at least one network security breach, with the average cost of an attack being one million dollars.
The biggest shortages are in the field of cloud security, with 44% of positions unfilled. Network protection teams and software architecture design security also have significant gaps, with 37% and 32% of positions unfilled, respectively.
There is a lack of diversity among candidates, with 40% of managers struggling to find women or representatives of minorities qualified in cybersecurity. Fortinet suggests that increasing diversity could help reduce the employment gap in IT Security.
Cybersecurity – staff shortages in global companies
With the increase in the number, complexity, and diversity of threats online, the market demand for qualified cybersecurity specialists is also growing. Meanwhile, according to the 2023 Global Cyber Skills Gap survey report published by Fortinet, 68% of surveyed organizations struggle with staff shortages in this area.
At the same time, even 56% of companies have a problem with recruiting the right people for IT Security positions, and 54% – with too high turnover of employees in these positions. Altogether, there is a need for even 4 million people to fill the entire global market demand for cybersecurity specialists.
And this is only growing year by year. According to the cited Fortinet report, only in 2021-2022, the number of companies that experienced five or more cases of cyberattacks increased by 53%. At least one network security breach was experienced by as many as 84% of surveyed organizations. The average cost of such an attack was one million dollars.
Cybersecurity – in which areas are specialists lacking?
The study also shows that the biggest shortages concern experts in the field of cloud security – as many as 44% of positions related to this specialization remain unfilled. It's not much better in network protection teams (37% of unfilled positions) and ensuring security during software architecture design (32% of unfilled positions).
The problem is also the small diversity of candidates. About 40% of surveyed managers point to difficulties in finding women or representatives of minorities qualified in cybersecurity. According to Fortinet, their activation can significantly contribute to reducing the employment gap in the IT Security area.
Editor-in-chief of Digitized. He has been associated with journalism for almost a third of his life; he worked for the Polish editions of Playboy, CKM and Esquire magazines, as well as Well.pl and naTemat.pl services. In his texts, he tries to understand reality and describe it objectively. He remains skeptical about many phenomena, but is not afraid to admit a mistake and change his mind. A native of Warsaw. Privately, he is a seeker of sense in nonsense and order amidst entropy. He likes wise words.
English
Jakub Rusak
