It has been reported by Information Systems Security Association (ISSA) that cybersecurity professionals believe organizations are facing cybersecurity skills shortage and that workload for cybersecurity professionals has increased as years goes by. Also, the report states that skills which have a significant shortage are security investigation analysis, software security, and cloud computing security. This report shows that the market is lacking enough cybersecurity professionals who have competitive skills.
Keeping up to date with new skills and knowledge is essential
Many organizations continue to server in silence because their needs in secure systems and networks are not met, and if they are met, they take time. Even if they have cyber security professionals, but they lack advanced skills that assist them to achieve what the company wants. Many of these professionals rely on their outdated skills, they have not updated themselves of new skills, and they are in darkness regarding what is going on recently in around the cybersecurity world.
Every day, there is something new, either the discovered or has been updated. These discoveries need to be learned, and cybersecurity professional needs to know these discoveries so that he or she may remain competitive. We have many cybersecurity training which happen online regarding new hacker’s tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs), which must be learned and understood for one not to fall into hacker’s wits without knowing. The same goes for new technology, cybersecurity professional need to get trained and get more education regarding the same, so that their organization not to be at a disadvantage against today’s cyber-threats that can destroy and bring an organization down.
Unfortunately, many cyber security professionals are not doing this. This is risky to many organizations because they may face challenges that will require skills that they do not have and will cost the organization a lot as they many incur losses and even face challenges that may bring them down. Employers need to support the idea of getting more education and knowledge for cyber security employees for the benefit of the organization. It may look like is an expensive task and a waste of money, but when something bad happens to the institution , it will cost the organization more money than just educating cyber security professional which is not costly at all.
Being certified
ISC2 and COMPTIA are organizations that deal with assessing professionals in cyber security. They help in identifying what is lacking for one to start learning new skills that they find deficit. They also help in addressing workload by automating most of security and managing services. This is done by providing opportunities for skills development through virtual training by mentoring, networking, and continuous education.
Personal development
For professionals, they need to develop themselves, even when their organization doesn’t provide opportunities so that they can remain competitive and won’t be declared redundant. This is an added advantage to protect their jobs and also for them to get more job opportunities that may improve their wellbeing. Protecting Organizations data and infrastructure has become critical and essential due to the risks involved.
Therefore, this ever increasing need has also made people to wake up and learn about cyber security, making the career in cyber security become competitive, thus for anyone to remain competitive he or she must continue to personally develop by learning new skills.
