Cybercrime has been so rampant in the last few years that CEOs and other C-suite executives already need to press the panic button.
According to analysts, loss revenue inflicted by cyberattacks and data breaches is projected to hit USD 10.5 trillion yearly beginning in 2025.1 These cyberattacks are so vast and sophisticated that the annual cost of all cybercrime damages can be comparable to the Japanese economy or a major European nation.
This shows that a well-planned cyberattack can put your company out of business and even paralyze an entire city or country. As seen in Allianz’s yearly Risk Barometer, cybercrime tops all other threats and risks to the global economy, with Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and ransomware attacks dominating the list of cybercrimes in organizations.2
In fact, one of the world’s richest businessmen, Warren Buffet, identified cybercrime as the topmost problem of today’s global economy. Buffet even sees it as much more worrisome than the threat of nuclear weapons.
To deal with cyberattacks, in the United States and Europe, more and more companies are taking out cyber insurance to try to insulate themselves from the threat of a cyberattack and other cybercrime damages.
Where does this leave organizations and businesses?
While cyber insurance is a must for all organizations, it’s not the only answer to the threat of cybercrime today. Beefing up your company’s cybersecurity is the ultimate solution.
So, how is your organization doing when it comes to cybersecurity? Are your cybersecurity ventures sufficient or not?
State of Cybersecurity Today
When the COVID-19 pandemic went into full swing in 2020, more than half of the workforce in the US was forced to work from their homes as lockdowns and mobility restrictions were implemented in full force. When the pandemic waned, a significant portion of the workforce retained a remote setup.
Because of this, as employees access, generate, and share more data remotely through the cloud, the number of cybersecurity risks also increases. This year, there will be 3x more networked devices on the planet than humans according to Cisco Annual Internet Report.3 Moreover, as of last year, 1 trillion network sensors have been embedded globally.
With data being the building block of today’s digital economy, we can only surmise that the potential value of cybercrime damages could be unimaginable. Hence, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be overemphasized.
Jobs in Cybersecurity: Closing the Gap
Steve Morgan, Head of Cybersecurity Ventures, is sounding the alarm on the glaring talent gap that has rendered many organizations utterly vulnerable to cyberattacks.
Morgan likens it to a metropolis with a severe shortage of law enforcers.4 When criminals launch simultaneous sophisticated attacks, the city falls to lawlessness and chaos. Morgan said that this is the status of organizations and businesses worldwide if the talent gap in cybersecurity remains unresolved.
But how bad is the talent gap in cybersecurity?
The same Cybersecurity Ventures report stated that between 2013 and 2021, the number of open cybersecurity jobs globally more than tripled from 1 million to 3.5 million, a 350 percent increase. With all the cybersecurity threats and cyber criminals around, experts predict these vacancies will remain open within the next five years.
Truth be told, there is a growing mismatch in the number of cybersecurity professionals and their competencies, as against the ever-changing needs of the global economy regarding cybersecurity. Sadly, most executives haven’t adequately addressed this talent gap. The result? Their companies are being exposed and vulnerable to cybersecurity threats.
Mitigations Needed: Closing the Cybersecurity Talent Gap
Before even mitigating the glaring cybersecurity threats around your company, talks need to happen at the C-suite level first. If you are a fairly large company, it is crucial to have a cybersecurity expert as part of the board. Do you have a Chief Information Officer or a Chief Security Officer who is a cybersecurity expert?
On the other hand, it should be non-negotiable for startups and smaller businesses to have a cybersecurity expert as a consultant or as an integral part of their organization.
It is also vital to make cybersecurity a regular topic of discussion. It should be part of your company’s strategy for growth and a salient feature of the company culture. Your employees should be able to understand competently how hackers work or what a phishing attack means and looks like.
Everyone in the organization must also know how to protect their personal data, intellectual property, and other sensitive data that can be stolen from them and used by attackers online. Everyone, from the C-suite to the new hires, must be taught how to protect critical infrastructure and overall cyber resilience.
This can only happen if your organization has competent individuals who can lead the way in cybersecurity. The need for trained, certified, and deeply knowledgeable cybersecurity professionals is at an all-time high, specifically for these eight roles that most organizations should ideally have:5
1. Cybersecurity Engineer
Cybersecurity engineers come up with and implement security plans and best practices. They also work on immediate mitigation plans to keep operations running in case of a disaster.
2. Cybersecurity Analyst
The ideal cybersecurity analyst must have an in-depth understanding of how data is stored and managed. They must also have updated knowledge of cybersecurity threats, such as ransomware attacks, social engineering, and data theft.
3. Network Security Architect
Network security architects are tasked to convert business needs into functional network systems, define suitable policies and procedures for these systems, and spearhead the training of administrators and users.
4. Security Software Developer
By merging their technical programming know-how with product development and analytical skills in cybersecurity, a security software developer creates software and adds security to it to protect it from any virtual attack. This critical role is open only to experienced tech professionals.
5. Ethical Hacker/Penetration Tester
These “white hat hackers” act like actual ones to understand the attackers’ motives, strategies, and actions. They perform penetration testing to identify vulnerabilities in security protocols for networks, devices, and applications.
6. Application Security Engineer
This tech professional makes sure that developers comply with secure coding practices. They also work with the development team in testing the application against specific security risks before its release.
7. Malware Analyst
A malware analyst studies and analyzes malware-related threats. They also look into malware-related incidents that have already happened to be able to come up with mitigations in the future.
8. Computer Forensics Analyst
They are the crime scene investigator of the cybercrime world. This individual leads in investigating cybercrimes that have impacted an organization and determining ways to prevent them from occurring again.
SECURE YOUR COMPANY’S FUTURE WITH FOX SEARCH GROUP.
C-suite executives like you must lead in securing your organization from increasingly complex cyber risks. You will need to invest in the necessary technologies and human resources so that your organization can keep pace with the perpetrators. This means narrowing the gap and investing in reliable professionals to secure your company from cyberattacks.
Let the Fox Search Group help you find the right cybersecurity professionals. Talk to us today!
References
1 Morgan, Steve. “Cybercrime to Cost the World $10.5 Trillion Annually by 2025.” Cybercrime Magazine, 27 Apr. 2021, https://cybersecurityventures.com/cybercrime-damages-6-trillion-by-2021/.
2 Graewe, Katrin. “Increasing Losses Due to Cyber-Extortion.” Link 11 – Next Generation Cyber Security, 6 Oct. 2022, https://www.link11.com/en/blog/threat-landscape/ddos-attacks-and-ransomware-increasing-losses-due-to-cyber-extortion/.
3 “New Cisco Annual Internet Report Forecasts 5G to Support More than 10% of Global Mobile Connect.” Newsroom, 18 Feb. 2020, https://newsroom.cisco.com/c/r/newsroom/en/us/a/y2020/m02/new-cisco-annual-internet-report-forecasts-5g-to-support-more-than-10-of-global-mobile-connections-by-2023.html.
4 Lake, Sydney. “CEOS Need to Start Caring about the Cybersecurity Talent Gap Crisis, New Report Shows.” Fortune, Fortune, 10 Aug. 2022, https://fortune.com/education/articles/ceos-need-to-start-caring-about-the-cybersecurity-talent-gap-crisis-new-report-shows/.
5 Awati, Rahul. “Top 8 in-Demand Cybersecurity Jobs for 2023 and Beyond.” WhatIs.com, TechTarget, 21 Dec. 2022, https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/5-top-cybersecurity-careers.