The UK needs to overhaul its outdated and obsolete training systems if it is to secure its need for cybersecurity professionals, industry experts warn.

The UK is facing a major shortfall in the number of cybersecurity professionals, but sector sepcialists from De Montfort University Leicester warn that the UK’s training systems are simply not equipped to make up the gap.

Sector specialists say that an outmoded and fragmented 20th Century training ecosystem risks leaving UK businesses dangerously exposed to 21st Century cyber threats. Government intervention is urgently needed to build the inclusive and sustainable cyber workforce of the future. A new approach would provide consistent role definitions, skills standards, and career progression across sectors.

The UK’s digital economy is growing rapidly and is central to the Industrial Strategy 2030 – yet cybersecurity remains one of the UK’s greatest skills challenges of the age.

High profile cyber-attacks are escalating – often resulting in devastating consequences to businesses as they introduce digital systems at speed.

The UK’s fragmented cyber education and training system is leaving the country dangerously exposed.

As the UK government prepares its updated National Cyber Strategy, experts warn that joined-up thinking is urgently required to address the short-termism that has led to a national shortage of qualified cyber professionals and the absence of a unified skills framework.

A parliamentary Roundtable on the Cyber Workforce earlier this year brought together a select group of senior directors from organisations including

DSIT, UK Cyber Security Council, UKC3, SASIG, CIISec, BCS, and a host of other industry leaders and leading academic figures to look at ways of creating a future-ready UK cyber workforce.

A White Paper, published by a leading cyber academic in collaboration with the APPG on Cyber Innovation, sets out five steps for the Government to secure UK cyber security skills for decades to come.

According to the report, the government should establish a DSIT-led taskforce to co-create a UK Cyber Skills Taxonomy, as well as a national delivery body to govern this taxonomy.

The government should also incentivise employer adoption of standardised, skills-based recruitment, and align education and career pathways to real-world cyber roles.

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“Recent arrests in relation to cyber-attacks on M&S and Co-op show the real and growing threat faced by UK citizens and businesses,” Dr Ismini Vasileiou, director of East Midlands Cyber Security Cluster, co-chair, UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration (UKC3), and associate professor, De Montfort University Leicester, author of the paper, said.

“What doesn’t make the headlines is the UK’s chronic shortage of cyber professionals.

“There’s currently a mismatch between Government industrial ambition and educational reality. We won’t secure a 21st Century digital economy with a 20th Century skills pipeline.

“This is emerging as a critical situation for SMEs, which are the backbone of the UK economy but which are increasingly exposed as they race to meet modern digital expectations and standards.”

Dan Aldridge MP, chair, APPG for Cyber Innovation, said: “Building a resilient and digitally capable workforce is fundamental to our country’s economy, and future workforce.

“As members of Parliament, ensuring everyone has the opportunity to develop cyber skills matters to keep our constituents and local businesses safe. Without such a foundation, we risk perpetuating the very gaps we are striving to close, and undermining the government’s mission of sustainable digital transformation.

“This White Paper highlights widespread consensus on the need for a shared language and structure for cyber skills, and we urge our colleagues across Parliament to treat this white paper not as another strategy, but as a call to action, to help build a cyber workforce that is as dynamic and diverse as the challenges we face.”