Skills shortage leads to more cyber threats
According to a report by Fortinet, the shortage of cybersecurity professionals could increase worldwide. The fewer proven experts are found, the more likely it is that even serious security incidents will not be averted in time.
According to a Fortinet survey of 1,800 IT and cybersecurity decision makers in 29 markets, the cyber threat situation is worsening for businesses worldwide. According to the survey, the number of companies that recorded five or more cyberattacks in the past 12 months has increased by 53 percent since last year. Eighty-four percent of respondents in the Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report said they had been the victim of at least one cyber incident in the past year. Nearly half of all respondents said it cost their company more than $1 million to fix a security breach. Sixty-five percent of respondents expect cyber incidents to continue to increase over the next 12 months.
Fortinet identifies another threat in the increasing shortage of skilled workers in the cybersecurity industry. There is reportedly already a shortage of 3.14 million skilled workers worldwide. As a result, important IT positions remain unfilled, the current Security personnel are overworked and there will continue to be an increase in security incidents.
The IT company sees one approach to tackling the shortage of skilled workers in focusing on more diversity when recruiting employees, for example to achieve a better balance between female and male experts.
In Switzerland, according to a 2023 Adecco survey almost 120,000 IT specialists are needed. There also remains a gap of 38,700 ICT specialists, as calculated by the Basel Institute for Economic Studies.
Source: Fortinet
