The cybersecurity industry continues to grow at an unprecedented rate by a factor of 35 between 2004 and 2017 (Morgan S, 2019).
- 2004 the global cybersecurity market was worth $3.5 billion.
- 2017 it was expected to be worth more than $128 billion.
- 2017-2021 it is predicted to exceed $1 Trillion.
There is a huge demand for cybersecurity professionals at a time when there is a shortage of them. The estimated current cybersecurity workforce is 2.8 million professionals, while the amount of additional trained staff needed to meet the shortfall is close to 4.07 million professionals (ISC2, 2019).
In the UK, the current cybersecurity workforce estimated to be 289,000, alongside 133,000 in Germany and 121,000 in France. The shortage of skilled professionals across Europe, the Middle East and Africa has grown to 291,000.
Organizations of all types are in an urgent need of hiring IT security professionals to protect any data breaches. Notably, Marriott faced $123 million fine for data breach for unauthorized access to the Starwood network since 2014 that exposed 383 million guests. The ICO said it would financially penalize Marriott for infringements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under the GDPR legislation, the ICO has the right to fine up to 4% of a company’s annual turnover.
Data breaches are destroying public confidence in cybersecurity whether lack of adequate security affects corporations, government agencies, or educational institutions. Research done on cybersecurity professionals indicates that two-thirds of the cybersecurity workers in their organizations are not adequately skilled to meet the challenges they currently face. The shortage of information security professionals is widening as more sectors recognize the value of deploying a skilled cyber workforce to protect their data. This year’s study reveals that we still have to fill a cybersecurity workforce gap of 1.8 million. For this reason, managers are planning new strategies to attract, enable, and retain the cybersecurity talent necessary to combat the risks in today’s ever-evolving threat environment.
Cybersecurity is a vast field that contains different disciplines like tech support skills, auditing, IT, engineering, and networking communication. Cybersecurity professionals work with many of these divisions; therefore, a vast scope of job opportunity exists for an individual pursuing a career in the cybersecurity market.
The cybersecurity field has the highest potential for a career path and learning opportunities. This field offers you a huge opportunity to stay engaged and challenged. The most demanded positions in this field are Operations and Security Management, followed by Incident and Threat Management, and Forensics.
There is zero unemployment in the cybersecurity profession which shows that the demand level is hugely higher than supply, giving birth to a significant rise in the price level. The average salary of cybersecurity professionals is over USD 92,000.
