Critical lack of skills could be the biggest security challenge

Posted by Nicholas Fearn
on March 29 2017

While we’ve seen some great technological advancements made over the years, new challenges have arisen. And cybercrime sits at the top of the list. Cyber criminals have identified a unique opportunity to gain access to valuable data and compromise critical infrastructure systems.

Millions of cyberattacks occur worldwide on yearly basis and the results are catastrophic. A report [PDF] from McAfee suggests that such crime costs the global economy between $300 billion and $1 trillion. Clearly, governments, public bodies, organisations and companies right around the world can’t let cybercrime keep rising.

The big issue, however, is that there’s a real lack of professionals who can respond to complex cyber security threats. Intel Security claims that 82 per cent of global IT professionals admit a shortage of cyber security specialists.

Although this is a challenge, people and firms are beginning to look for change. In particular, they’re training the cyber security specialists of the future - the people who’ll be on the frontline in the war against cyber criminals.

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TAGS:

Business Security, Cyber Security, IT skills, Training, IT Careers, IT Industry

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Nicholas Fearn

Nicholas is a technology journalist from the Welsh valleys. His work has been featured on Engadget, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, TechRadar, The Next Web, Forbes, Computer Weekly, Computing, Mail Online, The Telegraph and many other media outlets. In addition, he edits Tech Dragons, a publication covering STEM in Wales.