Global Cybersecurity Workforce Gap Up 26% to 3.4M, Finds (ISC)²’s 2022 Study
Despite shortages, 75% of security professionals said they are somewhat or very satisfied with their jobs, and 72% expect their organizations’ security staff to rise in the next 12 months.
The cybersecurity workforce gap has increased by 26.2% in 2022 compared to last year. This is despite the addition of 464,000 professionals to the cybersecurity industry, according to the International Information System Security Certification Consortium or (ISC)².
Cybercriminals have kept the global infosec community busy this past year, considering an 11% increase (464,000) in the cybersecurity workforce, from 4.183 million to 4.7 million between 2021 and 2022, is way too inadequate compared to the 26.2% increase in the demand for security talent.
(ISC)²’s assessment revealed that the cybersecurity workforce gap has risen from 2.7 million in 2021 to 3.4 million in 2022.
As such, 70% of respondents (mainly cybersecurity workers) in (ISC)²’s 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study said their organizations are understaffed. Respondents said this has directly hampered multiple functional and operational elements of cybersecurity, including the slower patching of critical systems, inadequacies in process assessment and oversight, and the inability to dedicate enough time and resources for training.
The cybersecurity workforce gap was most prevalent in the government (42%), aerospace (43%), education (47%), healthcare (47%), military or military contractor (50%), insurance and transportation sectors.
On the other hand, respondents from security software/hardware development (66%), construction (65%), food and beverage/hospitality/travel (65%), retail/wholesale (65%), and IT services (61%) were the most confident about their organizations’ capability to deal with cyber incidents.
Though the cybersecurity workforce gap declined by 26.4% in LATAM, it grew by 59.3% in EMEA, 52.4% in APAC and 8.5% in North America. With 410,695 vacancies, the number for the U.S. stands at 9%.
See More: (ISC)² To Train a Million People in Cybersecurity for Free to Bridge the Widening Skills Gap
Cybersecurity professionals have particularly been occupied this year with the geopolitics of the conflict in Ukraine visibly spilling into the cybersphere as individual hackers, ransomware gangs, and hacktivists took sides.Despite declining in H1 2022, data breaches constituted one of the reasons behind employee dissatisfaction. “High-profile data breaches increase organizational focus on cybersecurity, but often at employees’ expense,” noted (ISC)².
For instance, higher workloads, expectations, and increased focus on cybersecurity aren’t translated into corresponding top-down support. Consequently, only 22% of respondents said a high-profile data breach leads to increased spending on new technologies, just 20% said security budgets are hiked, and only 16% of respondents said the management hires additional staff.
(ISC)² added, “Our research suggests that the cybersecurity workforce is driven by a passion for what they do; and they have the best experience when they are able to chart their path and progression in the field. However, this experience is diluted when employees do not feel supported by the groups they work for.”
Nevertheless, 75% of respondents said they are somewhat or very satisfied with their jobs, and 72% expect their organizations’ security staff to rise either somewhat or significantly in the next 12 months.
“This is the highest predicted growth rate over the last three years, compared to 53% in 2021, and 41% in 2020. It suggests an optimistic outlook on the future of the cybersecurity profession’s growth, despite current and near-term risks,” (ISC)² said.
Whether or not this expected increase will match the ever-increasing cybersecurity workforce demand remains to be seen.
Note: The 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study by (ISC)² is based on responses from 11,779 global cybersecurity professionals working as independent contractors to working in cybersecurity teams in organizations with over 20,000 or more employees (entry-level to C-suite executives) engaged in more than a dozen sectors across LATAM, APAC, North America, and EMEA.
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