Almost half of companies (48%) require more than six months to find a qualified cybersecurity professional, according to the latest study by Kaspersky. The research also revealed that 41% of companies admit to being understaffed in cybersecurity.
Global cybersecurity staff shortfall
Around 36% of companies say recruitment for senior level requires almost a year or more, while 42% of respondents say junior jobs fill in one to three months. A discrepancy between certification and practical skills (52%) and lack of experience (49%) emerged as the top challenges in hiring cybersecurity professionals.
Almost half (48%) of bosses find the high cost of hiring these specialists a challenge. More than 41% of respondents consider global competition through aggressive and competitive hiring practices remain an obstacle.
Recommendations
To minimise the negative consequences of the global cybersecurity staff shortfall, experts from Kaspersky suggest adopting managed security services to acquire additional expertise without hiring additional personnel and add a defense against cyberattacks.
Experts also recommend regular training on cyber risks to detect and respond to the growing sophistication of cyber threats.
Kaspersky also suggests using centralised and automated solutions to aid the IT security team through aggregating and correlating data from multiple sources in one place. It is also vital to maximise machine learning to reduce the mean time to detect threats (MTTD).
Hiring, training, and outsourcing
Ivan Vassunov, VP of Corporate Products at Kaspersky, says that big companies can benefit from additional training to equip staff with appropriate knowledge and skills.
“As for small and medium-sized businesses, it is usually recommended to outsource cybersecurity tasks to managed security services providers (MSSP) because it helps them close talent gaps in a short time and with minimum losses’, adds Vassunov.
