London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Wanted: Millions of cybersecurity pros. Rate: Whatever you want

Wanted: Millions of cybersecurity pros. Rate: Whatever you want

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.

Friday brought yet another reminder of the risk of cyberattacks, 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.

But perhaps 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.

In the weeks before the attack, the company had posted a job listing for a cybersecurity manager.

"As far as I know, this is the first cybersecurity incident that has led to a measurable economic impact on the American population," said Jonathan Reiber, senior director for cybersecurity and policy at AttackIQ and the chief strategy officer for cyber policy under the Obama administration's secretary of defense.

"It should be something that triggers people," he said.

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."

Millions of unfilled jobs


Experts have been tracking the cybersecurity labor shortage for at least a decade — and now, a new surge in companies looking to hire following recent attacks could exacerbate the problem.

The stakes are only growing, as technology evolves and bad actors become more advanced.

In the United States, there are around 879,000 cybersecurity professionals in the workforce and an unfilled need for another 359,000 workers, according to a 2020 survey by (ISC)2, an international nonprofit that offers cybersecurity training and certification programs.

Globally, the gap is even larger at nearly 3.12 million unfilled positions, the group says. Its CEO, Clar Rosso, said she thinks the need may actually be higher, given that some companies put off hiring during the pandemic.

The needs range from entry-level security analysts, who monitor network traffic to identify potential bad actors in a system, to executive-level leaders who can articulate to CEOs and board directors the potential financial and reputational risks from cyber attacks.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects "information security analyst" will be the 10th fastest growing occupation over the next decade, with an employment growth rate of 31% compared to the 4% average growth rate for all occupations.

If demand for cybersecurity professionals in the private sector increases dramatically, some experts say talented workers could leave the government for more lucrative corporate jobs — a risk that is especially acute for smaller, local government agencies that manage critical infrastructure in their communities but have limited budgets.

"Think of the criticality of what your local government does: water purification, waste treatment, traffic management, communications for law enforcement, public safety, emergency management," said Mike Hamilton, chief information security officer at Critical Insight. "But Amazon is out there waving around bags of cash to protect their retail operation."

Hamilton — who was the former chief information security officer for Seattle, Washington, from 2006 to 2013 — added that local governments "cannot attract and retain these people when the competition for them is so high, which is why we've got to make lots of them."

'Not a short term solution'


A variety of education, training and up-skilling programs are already working to address the shortage.

GuidePoint helps train veterans leaving the military for cybersecurity careers. And Critical Insight's Hamilton runs a nonprofit called Public Infrastructure Security Cyber Education Systems, through which students at five universities get hands-on experience by doing security monitoring of real-time data on local government networks, providing a crucial service for small cities and counties that might not otherwise be able to afford it.

Experts say there's also an opportunity to bring new talent into the industry by focusing on diversity. Just 25% of cybersecurity professionals are women, so (ISC)2 launched a diversity, equity and inclusion program this year aimed at recruiting and keeping more women in the profession, Rosso said.

"We need to recognize that there is this huge diversity of people that can actually do ... this job very well," Hamilton said, referring to security analysts who monitor traffic on a network to look for behavior that might indicate a bad actor has accessed the system. "As a country, we are not taking very good advantage of the resources that we have."

In the meantime, as the industry works to grow its labor force, it could be a huge opportunity for service and software provider companies that can help firms beef up their cybersecurity protocols without hiring their own teams.

Because even with existing training programs, the global cybersecurity labor gap is expected to grow by 20% to 30% annually over the next several years, (ISC)2's Rosso said. Experts say both the public and private sectors must invest more in growing the industry's workforce.

Portions of President Joe Biden's $2 trillion American Jobs Plan could help. The infrastructure proposal includes $20 billion for state, local and tribal governments to update and improve cybersecurity controls for their energy systems.

Still, experts say more needs to be done, suggesting a broad rethinking of education systems from elementary school through higher education to include more cybersecurity training.

"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?"

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
×