Interest Surge ‘Eases’ UK Cybersecurity Skills Gap Crisis

Britain’s cyber security skills gap has shrunk by more than a third in the last two years thanks to a surge in interest from potential candidates, according to job site Indeed.

Researchers tracked the number of cyber security roles advertised and the number of clicks from candidates to gauge the mismatch between supply and demand, finding that the shortage of people with the most in-demand skills has eased by 36 percent.

Between the first quarter of 2015 and the same period this year, the share of cyber security job postings rose by 2.8 percent, while the share of candidate clicks rose by 40.3 percent.

Job rush

Indeed published research in January that claimed Britain’s cyber security skills gap was the second worst in the world, but rising levels of interest have had a positive effect.

However, demand is still exceeding supply. The greatest skills gap is in cloud security, with the share of jobs posted exceeding candidate interest by nearly ten to one, followed by identity and access management.

The mismatch is less severe in malware security and disaster recovery, where demand exceeds supply by four to one.

Mariano Mamertino, an economist at Indeed, commented how the prevalence of high-profile cyber attacks and data breaches, along with incidents related to the US presidential campaign, has moved the security industry into the spotlight.

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“Cyber security has been thrust centre stage, and an increasing number of people are considering it as a career,” he said. “The jump in interest from candidates is offering some relief to the thousands of British businesses struggling to find people with the skills and experience they need to keep cyber criminals at bay.

“But while the skills gap has narrowed, demand from recruiters is still double the supply of candidates, forcing many at risk companies to offer increasingly attractive packages to woo the talent they need to protect one of their most precious assets – data.”

Research released at InfoSecurity Europe 2017 earlier this month found revealed that Europe will need 350,000 extra cyber security professionals by 2022, contributing to a worldwide shortage of 1.8 million staff.

Steps have been taken to make training more readily available, such as the opening of a centre of excellence at Cardiff University, but it is clear that there is still plenty of work ahead for both government and industry.

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