The Urgent Need For Cybersecurity To Diversify
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It’s estimated that the number of cybersecurity jobs will grow by around 31% until 2029, which is seven times faster than the national average. This growth is in large part a response to the huge pressure organizations are under in the face of a surge in cyberattacks during the Covid pandemic.
While this is far from a new issue, and indeed I touched on it back in 2018, the pandemic has exacerbated the situation. At the backend of last year, analysis from Cybersecurity Ventures predicted that the cost of cybercrime would reach around $6 trillion during 2021, with this figure growing by around 15% per year in the next five years. If that growth curve is accurate, it would represent a tripling of the cost of cybercrime from the $3 trillion it was at in 2015. To put this into a degree of perspective, the Covid pandemic was estimated to have cost the global economy around $4 trillion.
While Microsoft’s recent Digital Defense Report highlights the immense value of doing fairly basic digital hygiene, such as ensuring software is patched and changing the default password on devices is enough to rebuff the vast majority of cyberattacks, it’s also clear that the industry needs to do more to unearth talent in previously unchartered areas.
New talent
For instance, IT giant IBM has pledged to train 30 million people by 2030 to ensure they have the digital skills they require to thrive in the modern economy, with training in cybersecurity among the most popular on its SkillsBuild platform. The company aims to train 150,000 people in cybersecurity skills in the next three years.
Crucially, a key part of this policy is to partner with over 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities to try and create a more diverse workforce. This is extremely important at a time in which the Aspen Digital Tech Policy hub reveals that just 9% of the cybersecurity industry consists of Black professionals, with Hispanic and Asian professionals making up just 4% and 8% respectively.
Gender diversity is similarly dismal, with women representing just 24% of the cybersecurity workforce. The UK government scrapped a campaign to attract more people into cybersecurity after they were criticized for an advert that suggested a ballerina’s next job could be in cyber, but it’s clear that the industry needs to do more to attract a more diverse workforce if it is to meet the intense skills shortages it faces.
It’s also pretty well established that diverse teams tend to produce more creative and innovative solutions and are generally higher performing. This can be especially so in cybersecurity, where the ability to understand the mindset of hackers and mitigate what are often extremely complex attacks is so important.
A welcoming environment
A part of the challenge surrounds the environment we want cybersecurity professionals to operate in. For instance, long and unsociable hours are commonplace, and while this is in part due to the shortage of skilled personnel, there is also a cultural element to this that prohibits many from considering it a viable career.
While overt discrimination may be minimal, there are quite probably barriers to inclusion within the industry that put many talented people off considering cyber a career for them. This means that organizations need to go beyond simply recruiting a diverse range of candidates to also ensure that the environment they work …….
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adigaskell/2021/11/05/the-urgent-need-for-cybersecurity-to-diversify/