Wanted: Millions of cybersecurity pros. Salary: Whatever you want
May 28, 2021 – Article posted on CNN
A series of major digital security breaches over the past year are serving as a wake-up call to Corporate America about the need to invest in cybersecurity. Another reminder of this great risk of cyberattacks occurred on Friday when Microsoft (MSFT) said the hackers behind the 2020 Solar Winds breach launched a new attack on more than 150 government agencies, think tanks and other organizations globally.
The most striking recent example is the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, which forced the company to shut down the pipeline temporarily — resulting in gas shortages and price spikes in multiple states over several days. The debacle cost Colonial at least $4.4 million, the amount its CEO admitted to paying the hackers.
The takeaway from such security breaches, according to experts, is that it’s high time for companies to start investing in robust controls and, in particular, adding cybersecurity professionals to their teams.
The only hitch: There’s a massive, longstanding labor shortage in the cybersecurity industry.”It’s a talent war,” said Bryan Orme, principal at GuidePoint Security. “There’s a shortage of supply and increased demand.”
“Sadly, there’s not a short-term solution,” GuidePoint’s Orme said. “I think we need to take a long-term view of it — as a lot of our adversaries do — to say, how can we systematically build the next generation and the generation after that and create a flywheel of qualified security talent that will be entering the workforce over the next 50 to 100 years?”
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