"Privacy Skills Gap Is the Top Obstacle for Privacy Programs, Underfunded Budgets a Major Obstacle To Attracting Privacy Professionals"
The Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) conducted a survey in the fourth quarter of 2022 to which about 1,890 working individuals with one of the organization's cybersecurity or privacy solutions certifications responded. The survey included different industries, organization sizes, and locations. The number of privacy professionals has increased since 2022, but some teams remain understaffed. Both technical privacy and legal/compliance teams faced a minor decrease in understaffing over the past year. However, more than half of technical privacy teams and 44 percent of legal/ compliance teams remain understaffed. There was a slight median rise in privacy staffing compared to the previous year, but a privacy skills shortage persists in many sectors as companies attempt to increase budgets to acquire additional talent. Companies typically note that employing privacy professionals is a time-consuming endeavor. Thirty-four percent of respondents reported having open technical privacy roles, while 27 percent reported having open legal/compliance positions. About half of all companies report that it takes between one and six months to fill both of these positions, and a quarter report that the process takes at least three months. Fifteen to 18 percent said that filling these roles exceeds six months. Only 2 percent of respondents revealed that they are unable to find candidates because of the lack of privacy skills, while 20 percent responded that they "do not know" how long the normal recruiting process takes. This article continues to discuss key findings from ISACA's Privacy in Practice 2023 survey report.