industry unlocked
the top strategy ( 21.6 %), followed by hiring from non-cyber roles ( 18 %), both of which emphasise the importance of looking beyond the ‘ obvious ’ candidates and casting the net wider . “ We ’ ve kind of created the cyberskills crisis ourselves by not hiring people because they haven ’ t got a degree , for example ,” said Mark Nicholls , CISO of Chime Group . “ There are so many good people out there and we need to
Nicole Mills , Exhibition Director at Infosecurity Group be more open . There are advantages to having diverse teams that represent the business you ’ re trying to protect , and having non-security folks bringing different ideas to the table .”
Heidi Shey , Principal Analyst serving Security and Risk Professionals with Forrester Research , agreed : “ We need to really expand our view , looking at non-traditional backgrounds for different types of roles . What is it you really need in terms of the skills ? And what are the things you could train someone up to do ? You ’ re looking for that one candidate who has everything already , and that can really narrow down the field and make it more difficult to recruit .”
Nicole Mills , Exhibition Director at Infosecurity Group , said : “ No single action has yet proved effective at bridging the cybersecurity skills gap . What ’ s needed is a holistic approach that integrates early engagement and education opportunities , designed to attract and retain the next-generation InfoSec workforce , with strategies that
As a permanent measure , we ’ ve got to look at what ’ s going to attract people at the right age . I think more could be done to make it part of the school curriculum .
enable great candidates to transition from other types of role . Importantly , our industry must resist the temptation to press ‘ pause ’ on recruitment , as many organisations have done in the face of budget cuts and uncertainty – if we do , there ’ s the risk that the skills gap becomes a chasm .” u
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