12 Dec How to Keep Your Cybersecurity Function Always Up to Date on Needed Skills
Maintaining a cutting-edge cybersecurity team is crucial in a world of proliferating cyber threats. “The threat landscape is tougher than it’s ever been,” Tara Wisniewski, EVP, Advocacy, Global Markets and Member Engagement at ISC2, which offers training and certifications for cybersecurity professionals, told Infosecurity Magazine late last year.
Unfortunately, building cutting-edge skills that can counter emerging threats is a task that’s easier said than done. What can organizations do to ensure they stay constantly current on needed cybersecurity skills?
Option #1: Recruit New Talent
Hiring new personnel who possess up-to-date cybersecurity knowledge is one approach. However, this strategy faces its own set of challenges, primarily due to the ongoing labor shortages in the cybersecurity field. The demand for skilled cybersecurity professionals far exceeds the supply, making recruitment competitive and potentially expensive. Half of companies say it takes them half a year to fill cybersecurity positions.
One thing that can help: make sure job postings match the reality of the role. “Many cybersecurity certifications require a minimum of five years of prior work experience — a CISSP certification, for example — but about 20% of cybersecurity job postings requiring such certifications are for entry-level, lower-paid jobs needing less than two years of experience,” reports DarkReading. Those kinds of mismatched requirements create a setup-to-fail scenario that make it harder to fill positions.
Option #2: Upskill In-House Teams
Another solution is to invest in the continuous training and development of in-house personnel. “Ongoing education and training can help shrink skills gaps, with 58% of cybersecurity professionals agreeing this is the way forward to mitigate the negative impact of worker shortages,” says Wisniewski.
However, this option can be hugely expensive. According to cybersecurity analysis group Kaspersky Lab, three-quarters of companies spend at least $100,000 per year on information security courses, and a third spend over $200,000. There also aren’t necessarily enough of such courses. Nearly half of respondents to their survey found that “the scarcity of courses covering new challenging spheres was the main problem for those searching for cybersecurity training.” This scarcity can leave security teams without the necessary resources or knowledge to tackle the latest cyber threats effectively.
Option #3: Outsourcing Cybersecurity Functions
Another strategy is to outsource cybersecurity functions to specialized vendors. These vendors are on the frontline of cybersecurity developments and dedicate significant resources to stay current with the latest threats and defense mechanisms. Outsourcing can provide access to top-tier expertise without the overhead costs of continuous training and can be especially beneficial for covering specialized or highly technical areas that are outside the typical scope of in-house teams.
Notably, these options are not mutually exclusive. Each of these strategies—upskilling, outsourcing, and recruitment—offers distinct advantages and can be part of a comprehensive approach to maintaining a resilient cybersecurity posture. By combining these methods, organizations can ensure their cybersecurity teams are well-equipped to defend against both current and emerging threats.
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