There’s been a cyber security skills shortage for years. It’s an issue the industry continues to struggle with and it’s not going away any time soon. Fortunately, businesses can fill their skill gaps by outsourcing to Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) like Integrity360.
The Skills Gap is contributing to Cyber risks
According to the Fortinet 2022 Cybersecurity skills gap report published earlier this year, the cyber security skills gap contributed to a massive 80% of all breaches during the Covid-19 pandemic as businesses struggled to shift their working practices to remote models.
With much of the workforce having to labour from their homes the threat surface to businesses increased dramatically and the need for cyber security professionals soared. Alas, the skills shortage hit hard requiring business owners and security teams to look elsewhere to plug the gaps.
Why is there a skills shortage?
This isn’t an easy question to answer but simply put, there just aren’t enough skilled professionals out there to meet demand.
Governments and organisations around the world have introduced more cyber security training and education to schools and universities but the number of students taking those courses just isn’t enough. The length of time it takes to get them through the system and into a position where they can be recruited by businesses is also too long to fill the requirements of today.
Businesses can try and train their own in-house professionals but doing this comes with significant risks. The costs and time involved are high and there’s nothing to guarantee that even if they do successfully train someone in the role they will stay.
Cyber security professionals must be adaptable and have a wide range of skills to keep up. Threats are constantly evolving, and every new piece of technology released has a digital component that also needs a security consideration.
Competition is fierce with cyber security professionals capable of commanding very high salaries and essentially having their pick of roles.
According to a Cybersecurity Ventures report, there will be a staggering 3.5 million open cyber security positions on the global jobs market by 2025 and that figure is set to rise even further this year and in the future.
Fill the skills gap with an MSSP
Utilising an MSSP is a win, win for a business struggling to fill their cyber security needs. With them, a business doesn’t have to worry about requiring an in-house specialist to cover everything. It’s cost-effective as well due to an MSSP being able to provide services and security for a fraction of the cost caused by having a hefty wage bill for in-house talent.
MSSPs are more flexible too, allowing a business to scale at pace, confident in the knowledge they are protected from cyber threats. A business also saves money by not having to purchase expensive software or tools due to an MSSP having access to the latest technology and tools already.
MSSPs can also provide companies such as those operating in the financial, legal or insurance sectors with a competitive edge as they can highlight their use of an MSSP to customers, reassuring them that their sensitive data is well protected.
It makes sense for a business to utilise an MSSP. They can cover all security bases by managing Firewalls, monitoring networks, utilising intrusion detection and prevention solutions and if the worst should happen, carrying out incident response when needed.
With the skills gap showing no sign of closing it just makes sense to use an MSSP.
Our Security First Roadshow
Learn more about the cyber skills gap and how MSSPs can help your organisation close it by attending one of Security First Roadshows! Integrity 360’s Head of Product Management Brian Martin will be delivering a talk on cyber economics and how the skills gap has a major impact on the success of organisations. You can also read more about how MSSPs can tackle the skills gap in this eBook .
