Cybersecurity recruitment surges during the pandemic, prompting global workforce reshuffling
The global cybersecurity industry has witnessed a significant expansion, with the workforce growing by 25% or approximately 700,000 professionals compared to last year. This growth, according to a report from (ISC)², has helped mitigate a long-standing shortage of qualified workers.
The 2020 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, based on data from 3,790 professionals during the pandemic, shows the pandemic placed huge demands on companies globally. The rapid growth in the cybersecurity workforce was part of a longer trend, not solely driven by COVID-19 demand.
Heightened demand for cybersecurity experts contributed to this growth. The need to switch to remote work placed additional pressure on existing cybersecurity staffers to manage the transition from a centralized office environment to remote operations. Despite this, 30% of respondents in the study said they were given a day or less to transform their respective workforces to remote operations.
However, the highest level of professionals in three years of research expect either no change or a decrease in cybersecurity staffing levels over the next 12 months. This could be due to the financial impacts of COVID-19, with 54% of cybersecurity practitioners expressing concern about spending on personnel as a result of lost revenue.
Clar Rosso, CEO of (ISC)², stated that while the research doesn't quantify exactly how the pandemic has impacted demand, the spending freezes most organizations instituted during the first half of 2020 have negatively impacted the hiring outlook.
Rosso emphasizes the need to pull talent from a broader pool of professionals and diverse backgrounds to address the talent gap and promote balance in cybersecurity teams. The industry continues to struggle with diversity issues, particularly in hiring more women and people of color. Companies are finding new cybersecurity personnel from a variety of sources, including recent university graduates, outside consultants and contractors, and workers from other departments within the company.
The U.S. needs to grow cybersecurity employment levels by 41% to address an ongoing talent gap. Globally, the cybersecurity industry needs to grow employment by 89% to fill an ongoing talent gap. The cybersecurity workforce has expanded to approximately 3.5 million professionals worldwide, according to the report from (ISC)².
The data for the report on the growth of the cybersecurity workforce in 2020 was collected by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). The global shortfall in cybersecurity workers fell from 4.1 million workers in 2019 to 3.1 million this year, demonstrating the impact of the expansion in the workforce.
The pandemic forced most of the world's leading companies to completely restructure their workforces to remote operations. This shift, while challenging, has led to a more diverse and expansive cybersecurity workforce, better equipped to meet the demands of the digital age.
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