{"id":3007,"date":"2014-12-08T08:45:53","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T14:45:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/?p=3007"},"modified":"2015-04-24T15:50:33","modified_gmt":"2015-04-24T20:50:33","slug":"considering-the-shortage-of-cyber-security-professionals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poweradmin.com\/blog\/considering-the-shortage-of-cyber-security-professionals\/","title":{"rendered":"Shortage Of Cyber Security Professionals"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ShortageIn October this year, at a Digital Skills Committee meeting that was hosted in the House of Lords in the UK, it was revealed that by 2017 there will be a global shortage of 2 million cyber security professionals<\/a>. Why is this? Well, everything these days has an \u201cinternet layer\u201d, as Stephanie Daman, CEO of the Cyber Security Challenge, put it. She continued:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAt [the] moment, in my view, we don\u2019t have a sufficient number of skilled people to do that protection piece. There aren\u2019t enough people with those skills. The money is there, the careers are there, and on the face of it, it should be a popular choice. But there\u2019s a skills gap.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Daman cited banking, shopping and tax as key elements of the modern lifestyle that are now at least in part governed by the internet. All such information is inherently vulnerable as soon as it goes online. In the future, then, as more and more of our daily transactions, information transfers and purchases continue to take place over the web, the threat of fraud, identity theft and other crimes that are the expertise of the cybercriminal rises in unison. The problem is, at present, the amount of skilled professionals with the qualifications and expertise needed to protect and manage all of our information is lagging quite far behind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why is there a skills gap?<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"CyberSecurity<\/span>According to the IT Governance Blog<\/a>, only a tiny 0.6% of 2012-2013 graduates are currently working in cyber security. The problem, then, perhaps starts in schools. A stronger emphasis needs to be put on the development and training in cyber security across the board and indeed across the world if we are to meaningfully close the skills gap to keep up with the fast-paced changes in our online lives.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, even if schools were to implement the necessary changes, it\u2019s still estimated that it will take 20 years for the skills gap to close. This simply isn\u2019t quick enough.<\/span><\/p>\n

To combat the problem, some firms in the UK are considering hiring ex-hackers in an attempt to get ahead of cybercrime more quickly. Computer Weekly<\/a> cites a poll of 300 senior IT and human resources professionals, in which it was revealed that the inability to find the right people with the necessary cyber security skills was forcing many businesses to seek out ex-criminals to do the jobs instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than half (53%) of the respondents said that \u201cthey would consider using a hacker to bring inside information to their security teams.\u201d They also said that they would not overlook recruiting an expert even if that person had a criminal record.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take a look at some of the other data that the poll gathered:<\/span><\/p>\n