INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security

POWERED BY

Job roles on the rise

There are approximately 43,000 professionals working in a fulltime cybersecurity related role in the UK – representing a 37 % increase in employee jobs over the last two years .

Despite hiring freezes across the board during lockdown – including general IT roles which were down by 40 % for the first half of this year – cybersecurity bucked the trend and job volumes increased by 6 %.

James Chaplin , CEO of Vacancysoft , said : “ The rapid pace of Digital Transformation brought on by COVID-19 led to a surge in recruitment at the beginning of this year . As a result , cybersecurity is becoming an evergreater part of the technology function .”

Whereas in 2018 , cybersecurity accounted for 3.5 % of technology vacancies , so far this year it is above 5 % – and this growth is forecast to continue .

Vacancy growth by region

The findings come from a new report by global recruiter , Robert Walters , and data provider , Vacancysoft , called Cybersecurity : Building business resilience , which highlights how the problem is far worse on a European level , with 70 % of companies stating that they do not have a sufficient cybersecurity team and are having to deal with a talent shortage of 140,000 across the continent .

Darius Goodarzi , Principal – Information Security and IT Risk at Robert Walters , said : “ The move to remote working , cloud-based file sharing , rise in video calls and cashless transactions has highlighted to all businesses the importance of adequate IT security to allow for Business Continuity and protection from online breaches .

“ In fact , there are over 65,000 attempted cyberattacks on UK SMEs every day – with around 4,500 being successful at a cost of £ 2.48 million per instance .

“ Given the cost – both financially and reputationally to businesses – it is surprising to hear that cybersecurity only accounts for 5.6 % of total IT spend in a company .”

With the UK long claiming its status as one of the world ’ s leading digital nations – home to exceptional talent , cutting-edge innovation and rapid growth – it is not surprising to see the rise in infosec vacancies on British soil . Rather than off-shore roles to international countries such as India where tech talent is in abundance , the trend here has been to nearshore to regions outside of London – with the north dominating .

While London has traditionally been the centre for hiring , the regions are catching up with the capital . In 2018 , 50.6 % of all cybersecurity vacancies were in London , where in contrast this year , 40.8 % of vacancies are London-based – a drop of 10 %. •

70 INTELLIGENTCIO www . intelligentcio . com