Tackling the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage

Minimize the Shortage by Maximizing Your Resources

A major and ongoing challenge in cybersecurity is the industry talent shortage. The number of skilled professionals entering the field continues to fall far short of the growing threat of breach. Organizations need a larger talent pool to choose from AND a way to make the best use of the skilled workforce they already have.

Learn how PlexTrac can make your cybersecurity team more efficient and effective.

Cybersecurity Talent Shortage: A Compounding Problem

This talent shortage issue is a compounding one. Nefarious adversaries seemingly have unlimited time, resources, and as many opportunities to breach systems as there are people in the world. Meanwhile, the good guys have budgets, conflicting priorities, and not nearly enough people with the necessary skills to do the job.

Solving the problem requires a two-fold approach: enticing more people into the industry and making them as efficient and effective as possible as quickly as possible.

Reasons to Choose Cybersecurity

As an industry, cybersecurity has so much to offer to an up-and-coming workforce. But the work certainly isn’t easy, and not just any warm body can do it. So what are the folks currently drowning in their workload to do to entice more of the right people to join them? Perhaps, a start is more effective communication about the amazing upsides to working in InfoSec.

Those considering education or training to enter InfoSec can look forward to a number of amazing benefits:

1. High salaries — Enough said. This fact definitely belongs in the number one spot.
2. Many diverse opportunities — The job market is wide open for people with the right skills and experience, and jobs in InfoSec are much more diverse than many people realize.
3. Flexibility — Most cybersecurity professionals didn’t miss a beat when the world began working remotely at the onset of Covid. You can find amazing jobs working from wherever you are.
4. Awesome culture and people — There’s a lot to like about the laid back culture of the InfoSec industry. If you want to work with people whose intelligence will blow your mind, but who don’t need to wear a suit to prove it, InfoSec may be for you.
5. Chance to make a difference — If you want to make the world a better, safer place, working in cybersecurity is a perfect opportunity to serve and protect people everywhere.

If we in the industry can promote the benefits widely enough, thereby increasing general interest and lowering the intimidation factor of working in InfoSec, the talent pool will rise. If you are considering preparing to enter the industry, check out our blog on some characteristics and skills you can work on to snag that first security job.

Ways to Minimize Your Cybersecurity Talent Shortage

Besides attracting more people, what else can be done to address the talent shortage? Sounds like a catch-22, but there are ways to make better use of the existing workforce and to get newbies up to speed faster, regardless of their entry level abilities.

Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of every security pro and focusing on the right battles are key to getting more done with less. To focus on the right work requires a clear view of your security posture and the ability to assess and prioritize risk. Fortunately, there are more tools and partners available to help with these challenges than ever before. If you can’t find your own people, at least you can augment your efforts with consultants and technology.

Tools and partners are available in the marketplace to streamline processes, improve your security posture, and get better coverage with less financial and personnel investment. When choosing what can make a difference for your organization, consider the following:

1. What can help you glean the data? — Automated scanners are pretty much essential to continuously monitoring your environment.
2. What can help you understand the data? — Too much data can also be a problem. Analyzing it all efficiently is critical.
3. What can help reduce low level tasks? — Tired of endless report writing in Word? Enough said.
4. What can help you better communicate? — Siloed teams and poor communication with leadership can be a major bottleneck.

While even mature security teams may be in need of more members, they can still maintain a solid grasp of their posture with the right support and prioritization.

PlexTrac: A Force Multiplying Solution

PlexTrac is the premier reporting and workflow management platform that can act as a force multiplier for your cybersecurity team. By streamlining all your cybersecurity workflow processes from data to deliverable, your team will gain time and information to prioritize the right battles.

Book a demo of the platform today!

PlexTrac Author At PlexTrac, we bring together insights from a diverse range of voices. Our blog features contributions from industry experts, ethical hackers, CTOs, influencers, and PlexTrac team members—all sharing valuable perspectives on cybersecurity, pentesting, and risk management.