Why the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage is so Bad Right Now

If you’ve attempted to build a cybersecurity team or have considered developing your business’ cybersecurity posture in the last few years, you are not alone. Demand for cybersecurity is rising greatly and it has created a cybersecurity talent shortage that’s made it difficult for anyone to assemble the team they need to stay secure.

Considering partnering with an MSSP for cybersecurity? See the top qualities every cybersecurity company should have in this blog: 5 Qualities of a Reliable Cybersecurity Company.

What is the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage?

The talent shortage in cybersecurity is just as it seems: there are more jobs than people to fill them. In fact, there are over 700,000 unfilled cybersecurity job openings in the US today and over 3.5 million worldwide.

Why the lack of talent in the cybersecurity industry? This lack of staffing stems mostly from these key factors:

• Rising Demand for Cybersecurity: Since the pandemic, the demand for cybersecurity has risen drastically. Spending on cybersecurity has topped $1 trillion and is growing by nearly 15% each year. Between 2013 and 2021, the amount of unfilled jobs in cybersecurity grew 350%. The frequency of cyberattacks is up, as is the cost of dealing with them. All these factors have made implementing cybersecurity a must for any business that wishes to mitigate risks and protect itself from cybercriminals. In turn, this demand has created a lot of jobs very quickly.
• Unrealistic Employer Expectations: In a field that’s relatively new and still building its stable of talent, it’s not uncommon for most available talent to have short resumes. But, as with many industries, this hasn’t stopped employers from expecting too much when seeking workers, requiring intensive experience, high degrees, and numerous certifications. This stems the flow of applicants to open positions and makes it difficult for those just starting out to find positions suitable to their skills.
• Cycle of Retention: Due to many factors, including the shortage of workers, cybersecurity is a very stressful career that’s work-intensive, requires lots of consistent education, presents many unique challenges, and creates high-stress situations. A lot is on the line for businesses when it comes to cybersecurity, so tensions tend to run high. This makes for a trying workplace and causes a lot of talent to leave the industry altogether (over one-third of cybersecurity professionals are planning to leave the industry). This is only strengthened by the talent shortage which leaves current cybersecurity workers overworked.

How Does the Skills Shortage Affect Businesses?

The impact of the cybersecurity talent shortage on businesses is obvious; it makes it harder to find cybersecurity talent to strengthen your security posture and protect your business.

Related: What Do You Need to Build an In-House Cybersecurity Team

Many organizations are rushing to build internal teams to stay secure and compete for the same people. This makes assembling a cybersecurity team very time-consuming, difficult for recruiters, and very expensive as demand drives up salaries.

How Businesses Can Overcome the Talent Shortage to Stay Secure

Overcoming a talent shortage as a business is no easy feat. You not only face the typical challenge of recruiting but also of winning over candidates who are being courted by many companies. It can be expensive, stressful, and time-consuming.

To combat these issues, businesses have three main options:

• Ramp Up Recruiting: Businesses who wish to build an in-house team can obviously pump more money into their recruiting efforts, offer higher salaries, better benefits, more access to continued education, and better technology and facilities. This gets expensive and results are not guaranteed, but it does give you a chance to beat out competitors for talent.
• Train Current Employees: Another option you have is to invest in your current employees. Anyone who has an interest in cybersecurity from your IT or other technology teams can begin or continue their education in cyber and eventually transition full-time.
• Partner with an MSSP: Finally, you can also choose to partner with a managed security services provider (MSSP) for your cybersecurity needs. MSSPs already have the technology, facilities, and talent needed to secure your business. They handle all aspects of team building—recruiting, training, education, and retention—and, already have the tools needed to get the job done.

How an MSSP Helps Businesses Beat the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage

Partnering with an MSSP, like DOT Security, for your cybersecurity needs not only gives you a workaround to the cybersecurity talent shortage, but it gives your business access to resources that most businesses cannot access.

24/7 network monitoring, consistent risk audits, compliance services, edge security, next-gen antivirus, and other security features work together to give your business a layered security strategy in addition to these overall business benefits:

No More Recruiting or Worrying About Your Talent

Remove the time and money commitments made to security recruiting. With an MSSP, you don’t have to think about hiring, training, and retaining a team of security specialists. Instead, you get instant access to a complete stable of security experts (analysts, engineers, vCISOs, and more).

Consistent Access to the Best Available Strategies and Technology

Cybersecurity is a constantly changing game. Every day cybercriminals are inventing new attacks, using new tools, and finding more ways to penetrate your systems. That means the tools, technology, and strategies your business uses to thwart these attacks must also change and adapt.

Consistently updating technology, patching known threats, updating software, gaining the latest certifications, and staying on top of the most current strategies and happenings within the industry are now must-haves.

With an MSSP, our team of security specialists takes care of all this and more, ensuring you always have the best tech, most updated solutions, and a strong security posture to lean on no matter what cybercriminals throw at you.

A Team of Experts Behind You

In addition to technology, working with an MSSP also gives businesses access to experts in all fields of cybersecurity. From analysts who monitor your network and identify new threats to compliance managers who ensure you always meet old and new requirements, an MSSP has all the expertise you need to stay secure without having to worry about hiring and retention.

More for Your Money

Nobody has an infinite cybersecurity budget, meaning that you need to get the most for your money. Working with an MSSP is the easiest way to make the most of your cyber budget because, for a consistent monthly fee, you get everything you need without any additional expenses related to managing your team, getting better technology, compliance fines, or breach-related costs.

In Conclusion

Due to many factors like a sudden increase in demand, a lack of training and experience, and the stresses of working in the industry, there is a severe cybersecurity talent shortage. Businesses that want to stay secure are struggling to fill gaps in their security teams and building a team from scratch has become a very expensive venture.

To help, businesses need to assess all their options, including upping their own budgets or seeking the help of third parties to outsource their cybersecurity to, like an MSSP. The latter option gives businesses a lot of bang for their buck, granting access to a plethora of technology and expertise, and the long-term support to stay secure against evolving threats.

Choosing to partner with an MSSP, like DOT Security, is a great option for businesses of all sizes, but picking an MSSP can be just as big of a decision. To help you, we compiled some of the key qualities all cybersecurity companies should have in this blog, 5 Qualities of a Reliable Cybersecurity Company.