“
FINAL WORD
BY ENGAGING
STUDENTS’ INTEREST EARLY AND
HIGHLIGHTING THE EXTENSIVE
RANGE OF OPPORTUNITIES AND
REWARDS THE INDUSTRY OFFERS,
WE CAN ATTRACT THE NEW TALENT
THAT’S REQUIRED.
demand for secure Digital Transformation,
it’s clear that the cybersecurity skills
shortage poses a huge risk to organisations
of all sizes, industries and geographies.
Education matters
Marie Hattar, CMO, Keysight
don’t have enough skilled personnel to
enable them to deal with current and
emerging threats. In early 2018, a report
by analyst ESG found that over half
(51%) of enterprises have a problematic
cybersecurity skills shortage. This has
more than doubled since 2014 when
ESG conducted similar research. The
specialist careers website CyberSeek states
there are currently over 300,000 unfilled
cybersecurity jobs in the US alone and it’s
predicted there will be 1.8 million unfilled
security roles globally by 2022.
This shortage of experienced personnel
manifests itself in several ways. It increases
the workload of existing cybersecurity staff
and leads to the hiring of junior personnel
who require on-the-job training, rather than
skilled pros. It also perpetuates the situation
in which security teams only have the
bandwidth to focus on firefighting problems
and simply trying to ‘keep the lights on’
as best they can and don’t have the
time to work on more strategic initiatives
that would enable the business. Against
the backdrop of a fast-growing array of
cyberthreats, coupled with an increasing
86
INTELLIGENTCIO
To help drive awareness of this problem,
one of the focus themes for the 15th annual
National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
(NCSAM) was ‘Educating for a Career in
Cybersecurity’. It aimed to highlight the
opportunities to inform students of all ages,
from high school to higher education and
beyond, about cybersecurity as they consider
their future career options and to motivate
teachers and counsellors about the range of
roles available in the sector. But how do we
go beyond just creating awareness and take
positive action?
Addressing the skills gap quickly demands
action at all levels of education, because the
problem isn’t just limited to the cybersecurity
sector. According to the Smithsonian Science
Education Center, 2.4 million science,
technology, engineering, or maths (STEM)
vacancies will remain unfilled in 2018.
Seventy eight percent of US high school
graduates don’t meet the required grade for
one or more college courses in maths, science,
reading or English. There is also significant
under-representation of women and people
from diverse ethnic groups in STEM roles.
As such, the first challenge to overcome in
closing the skills gap is increasing school
students’ interest in relevant STEM subjects
and building their skills.
This is why Keysight operates education
programmes worldwide, to address this
issue head-on with local, national and
international projects. These involve direct
school-support activities and running
educational events targeting students
from age nine upwards, to foster an early
interest in STEM topics, show how these
drive innovation and help to develop their
problem-solving capabilities.
Aiming higher
Driving interest in STEM subjects shouldn’t
stop when students leave high school, it
needs to continue into higher education
too, with established courses that provide
a defined pathway into relevant careers for
students of all ages.
But there’s still some way to go here, as a
2016 cybersecurity skills report showed that
just 7% of top universities internationally
offered cybersecurity degree courses at
undergraduate level and only one-third
offered a Masters programme.
However, this situation is changing fast.
Several universities and colleges are investing
in new facilities offering cutting-edge
education technologies, with the aim of
enticing students onto cybersecurity courses.
The cybersecurity industry is also playing
its part in creating opportunities to attract
and develop new cybersecurity talent.
Ixia, a Keysight company, established the
international Cyber Combat competition, in
which teams of students and cybersecurity
industry professionals pit their skills against
one another.
These cyber war games have two main
objectives: to present cybersecurity in an
exciting and engaging context to students,
and to enable current security pros to
hone their skills and stay up-to-date on the
latest tools and techniques in simulated
cybersecurity attack scenarios. They also
help contestants to understand the mindset
of cyberattackers, which in turn makes them
better at defence.
In conclusion, the security skills shortage will
not be fixed overnight. After all, creating a
threat hunter or cyber analyst with three
years’ experience takes, well, three years.
But by engaging students’ interest early
and highlighting the extensive range of
opportunities and rewards the industry
offers, we can attract the new talent that’s
required to help us keep pace with the
growing cyber risk. n
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