A shortage of cybersecurity professionals puts governments, critical infrastructure and national security at risk. Professonals leaving en masse could be catastropic.

The results of a survey commissioned and released by Trellix this week shows that 85% of respondents believe the workforce shortage is impacting their organisation’s abilities to secure increasingly complex information systems and networks.

Research firm Vanson Bourne surveyed 1,000 cybersecurity professionals in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, the UK and the US across a variety of sectors.

It gauged the demographics of those in the cybersecurity field, their motivators and frustration, career development pathways, and ideas for expanding the ranks of the workforce to include those with non-traditional career pathways.

The positives

Most (92%) of the respondents agreed that cybersecurity is purposeful, soulful work that motivates them.

More than half of respondents (52%) acknowledged they believe cybersecurity is progressive and evolving. Alongside this, job security is another impactful reason for currently working within cybersecurity.

The fact that cybersecurity continuously grows in relevance, and roles always being accessible on this basis is clearly an important factor. Particularly given events since the start of the pandemic in terms of national and international lockdowns, employees being furloughed, and uncertainty across other industries, the appeal of cybersecurity will have only become more prevalent.

The negatives

Frustrations experienced within cybersecurity vary across the board, demonstrating the importance in addressing several areas as opposed to focusing on just one.

Respondents report limited support for the development of skills as a key frustration, alongside a lack of recognition for the good they do for society.

Other issues stem from limited support with qualifications, pay gaps between different demographic groups, lack of diversity, and unfriendly environments for both certain ethnic groups and women.

Of those planning to move to a different career or profession in the future, more than half report plans to move to IT, computer science or software development. Others plan to move into business and professional services, financial services, etc.

How can this be adressed?

Most (92%) report that there is a current skills gap across the cybersecurity profession and a growing demand to fill security-related roles.

The same proportion (92%) also believe that greater mentorship, internships, and apprenticeships would encourage and support participation of workers from diverse backgrounds into cybersecurity-based roles – so more could certainly be done to encourage a greater pool of employees to meet demand.

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“Our industry is already 2.72 million people short,” said Trellix CEO Bryan Palma.

He added: “Cultivating and nurturing a cyber security workforce for our future requires expanding who we view as talent and changing our practices across the public and private sectors.

“Closing the cyber security talent gap is not only a business imperative, but important to national security and our daily lives. We need to remove barriers to entry, actively work to inspire people to do soulful work and ensure those in the field are retained.”

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