Shortage of IT Security Professionals Could Comprise Companies' Network Security

A new report from Burning Glass Technologies found that demand for cybersecurity professionals has grown more than 3.5 times faster than the demand for other IT jobs over the past five years. It has also increased more than 12 times faster than the demand for all other non-IT jobs, explained Computerworld. This research is based on all cybersecurity jobs posted by U.S. businesses and government officials over the past five years.

The jobs in highest demand were information security engineers and security analysts. The CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, Matt Sigelman, said that this shows that companies are taking security much more seriously and are investing more resources into protecting their data against attacks. 

But analysts are concerned that there won't be enough qualified security specialists to meet the demands of the market. More employers are looking for certified security professionals who they see as being more qualified to establish and fulfill best practices. Employers often reposted or duplicated security job postings due to difficulty finding candidates with appropriate expertise - this occurred about 35 percent more often than in other posted IT jobs.

And this gap is only expected to widen, with analysts predicting that there will be a need for more than 330,000 new IT security professionals worldwide over the next year. Given the shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals, companies could use data encryption software to make it easier for a limited number of IT professionals to safeguard company data in a diverse IT environment.

How does this impact data security?
The lack of skilled workers has several consequences. Existing IT security professionals have to work harder and work longer hours, which means that they may be more prone to making mistakes or delaying important security patches or software updates.

It also indicates that some companies won't be able to find qualified candidates who can keep their networks secure. This could also prevent organizations from securing their infrastructure, defending against threats and recovering from cyberattacks, reported Security Week. Data encryption would better protect sensitive information even with vulnerabilities at the network level. 

While there may not be enough skilled professionals available to fill security roles at companies, there are other ways for companies to protect their networks, such as by adopting data encryption software. This will allow companies to protect their data across all computing environments so they can minimize the effects of the shortage of skilled IT security specialists