"Cybersecurity Workforce Needs to Grow by Two-Thirds to Protect Assets"

According to an analysis conducted by (ISC)², a Florida-based nonprofit organization specializing in IT training and certifications, the worldwide cybersecurity workforce must grow by 65 percent to protect enterprises' critical assets adequately. The Cybersecurity Workforce Study surveyed over 4,700 cyber professionals across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia, to measure the pool of available cyber talent compared to the need for such talent over 2021. For 2021, the study estimated there were 4.19 million cybersecurity professionals worldwide, an increase of over 700,000 compared to 2020. The Cybersecurity Workforce Gap is the number of additional professionals that organizations need to defend their critical assets adequately. For the second consecutive year, the gap decreased to 2.72 million compared to 3.12 million in the previous year. The data together suggest that the global cyber workforce needs to grow 65 percent to defend organizations' critical assets effectively. Study participants included security administrators, security architects, IT managers, IT directors, IT specialists, chief information security officers, and chief information officers. In 2021, the US saw a 30 percent increase in the number of cyber professionals. Respondents expressed high levels of job satisfaction in 2021, with 77 percent saying they were satisfied with their jobs. Job satisfaction was high among all three age demographics in the study, with only a 3 percent difference between Generation Z and Baby Boomers. The study also shows that career pathways toward becoming a cyber professional are changing. For example, IT backgrounds remain the most common route, but 17 percent transitioned to cybersecurity from unrelated career fields. This article continues to discuss key findings from the (ISC)² Cybersecurity Workforce Study.

NextGov reports "Cybersecurity Workforce Needs to Grow by Two-Thirds to Protect Assets"