Cybersecurity complaints to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation more than tripled last year, while the average payment made by ransomware victims increased over the years.
FREMONT, CA: Governments have a comprehensive view of potential dangers through their law enforcement and intelligence capabilities, but they frequently approach matters through a national security lens rather than a business risk focus. While businesses have firm- and sector-specific risk information and often have easier access to cybersecurity skills, they cannot take an economy-wide picture and may be overwhelmed by state-sponsored attacks.
Governments, businesses, and other institutions worldwide face a shortage of more than three million cybersecurity professionals—nearly as many as the estimated 3.5 million people already employed in the area. Arguably, there is labor capacity available here. The problem, however, is twofold: increasing the number of people retraining in cybersecurity and ensuring that courses enable students and trainees to stay up with rapidly evolving threats.
The National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education of the United States recently revamped its framework for talent development, allowing schools to deliver more relevant education and employers to ensure graduates possess the requisite competencies. CyberFirst was founded by the UK's National Cyber Security Centre. It offers anything from financial aid for college and apprenticeships to summer programs to draw young people to the subject.
The Cybersecurity Workforce Alliance was founded by major financial institutions, the City University of New York (CUNY), and workforce development specialist iQ4 and currently has over 2,700 members from industry, academia, and government. Its goal is to provide internships to over 10,000 US students by 2022. The New York City Economic Development Corporation has partnered with local businesses and institutions to offer cyber degree programs and an accelerator to accelerate the growth of cyber firms. However, additional efforts of this nature are required to close the cyber talent gap.
Additional exercises of this type should be conducted. Threat variables differ by the commercial sector, and the more information governments have about what matters and to whom, the better-equipped officials will be to acquire valuable threat intelligence.
