Addressing the cybersecurity skills shortage in the UK

The cyber security skills shortage in the UK is becoming increasingly evident - a worrying trend given the fact thatCyber security threats are rapidly evolving due to the:

• Use of automation and AI technology
• Technology becoming more sophisticated and diverse
• Continual evolution of cyber security requirements

Therefore, it’s imperative that the cyber security skills shortage is tackled quickly.

In this article, we will explore the growing skills shortage in this sector and what you can do to ensure your employees have the skills required to keep your business safe.

We will then discuss how Kaplan Assessments can help your organisation, with a tailored professional qualification service that prioritises your goals.

How do we do that?

As established leaders in advancing professionals, we understand how essential professional qualifications are to raising industry standards and ensuring you have a team of highly skilled professionals. Our collaborative approach ensures our qualifications are tailored to your workforce, so your team has what it needs to succeed.

Get in touch with the Kaplan team to find out more.

The cybersecurity skills shortage in the UK: A breakdown

We keep saying the UK’s cyber security skills shortage is serious, and the evidence proves it. For example, in 2023 it was reported that 50% of all UK businesses have a skills gap in basic cybersecurity.

What classifies basic cybersecurity skills?

They include:

• Setting up firewalls
• Correctly storing data
• Dealing with malware (malicious software)

The astonishing part is these figures are similar to those reported in not only 2022, but also 2021!

This indicates that this is an issue that businesses have tackled for numerous years, and with how quickly cyber threats are evolving, this skills shortage could cause severely detrimental issues to business.

An example of this is storing data, which many businesses do to measure analytics as well as making processes easier for the consumer. However, there are a number of data security risks involved with this, such as data breaches, that can have catastrophic effects to everyone involved.

How could risks like these impact your business?

Cyber firms have revealed that their most common cyber security skills gaps include:

• A 35% ‘security testing’ skill gap
• A ‘cybersecurity governance and risk management’ skill gap of 31%
• A 30% ‘secure system architecture and design’ skill gap

Want to ensure your employees have the skills required to prevent your business from falling victim to these dangers?

Kaplan’s tailored assessments can help your employees have the expertise required to ensure your business stays safe from cyber security breaches.

Reach out to our team to find out more.

Why this is problematic?

When asked, 20% of employers revealed that the cyber security skills shortage prevents them from fully meeting their business goals.

This is only amplified by the issues that cybersecurity threats pose to organisations.

As previously mentioned, the skills shortage increases a business’ vulnerability to these threats, such as data breaches. By not having the talent in place to defend against the growing number and sophistication of cyber attacks, it leaves organisations at high risk.

It’s no secret that time is of the essence during a cyber breach, but just how long does it take for a cyber attack to become disastrous?

Just 10 minutes, says cloud security leader, Sysdig.

The cyber security talent shortage could lead to inadequate incident response times. The delayed detection and resolution of these security breaches can cause havoc to everyone involved, as well as costing your business thousands, if not millions, to rectify.

You may decide to implement robust cybersecurity measures to counteract these threats, but if your team doesn't have the skills to maintain these systems, how effective are they really?

These issues can have knock on effects within other industries too, as cyber risks have been identified as one of the top threats to grow within the next year.

For that reason, it has never been more imperative to ensure your team has the cyber security skills required to prevent potential attacks.

Why is there a cybersecurity skills shortage?

Now we’ve answered the question ‘Is cyber security still in demand?’, you may find yourself wondering why there is such a skills shortage in this sector if the talent is so vital to multiple industries.

We’ve got the answer for that, too.

Restricted talent pool and lack of diversity

Only 17% of the cybersecurity workforce is female, with 14% of senior roles filled by women.

The most shocking part? The female worldwide workforce is only 25%...

We’ve spoken before about the importance of inclusivity in the workplace, and the cybersecurity industry is no exception. There could be a number of reasons as to why this is, such as:

• Women not feeling welcome to this industry
• Women thinking they don’t have the skills required
• Women not wanting to enter such a male-dominated sector

However, perhaps the issue isn’t that there is a lack of talent, rather the problem is identifying and supporting professionals' continued learning and growth in this sector.

Many employees state they have experienced barriers to career progression within this industry, and our tailored assessments can ensure you are improving the competency of your professionals - bridging the cyber security skills gap.

Need for skills specialisation

The cybersecurity industry encompasses various specialist domains, such as:

 

• Security analytics and threat intelligence
• Incident response
• Security compliance and governance

This is to ensure that workforces have diverse skills to combat the evolving sophisticated nature of cyber threats.

Typically, professionals are required to become experts in one specific area of the sector. This lack of or limited cross-domain expertise is posing threats to businesses.

The continuous skills development challenges are preventing professionals from broadening their talent and knowledge - for example, incident response has been highlighted as an area that needs attention.

So, why not upskill your talent across multiple domains? The fast-paced evolution of cyber technologies and attacks is making this harder than ever, but equally increasing the demand for continuous professional development.

This would make your workforce unlike others, setting you apart from the competition.

Cyber threats have become faster, better, and more complex

Over the past few years we have seen an emergence of new threat vectors, like cloud accounting software and the Internet of Things (IoT), that make it easier for cybercriminals to launch attacks.

With more and more diverse cyber threats launching, such as:

• Ransomware
• Advanced persistent threats (APTs)
• Phishing attacks

It’s never been more important for professionals to have a broad skill set to ensure they have the talent to defend the latest threats.

For example, the development of large language models (LLMs) - a form of AI - can now be used as a way of conducting cyber attacks. For that reason, it is essential that your employees have the ability to adapt to evolving automated and AI-generated attack methods.

Is upskilling cybersecurity professionals the answer?

The easiest way to close the existing skills gaps in cybersecurity is to ensure your employees have the skills required.

However, is it a case of lack of talent or maximising the potential of your current workforce?

Organisations need to understand what gaps their employees have in order to address specialised skills demands.

And they need to do this fast!

With the ever-increasing technological advances in this industry, it needs to start putting a heavy emphasis on understanding how they can upskill their talent to combat the malicious use of automated and AI systems.

By boosting the potential of existing talent, you can address and break the barriers to career advancement (potentially reducing the need for external hiring).

For example, by upskilling, your employees could be promoted from cyber crime analyst to cybersecurity consultant, or business risk manager to cyber defence manager.

All it takes is a tailored qualification.

Kaplan Assessments offers targeted professional assessments and qualifications

Simply put, investing in training and development is an obvious solution as a way to ensure your cyber security team has the skills required to defend your organisation against cyber threats.

However, these assessments and qualifications should be accessible to everyone to provide equal opportunities and that cross-domain knowledge that could make your talent unlike the others.

If you are unsure what qualifications to pursue or how to make sure your employees will acquire the relevant expertise to break free from the cyber security skills shortage, we can help.

We have been offering tailored solutions to ensure professional competence for more than 80 years, will you be next?

Contact the Kaplan team to find out how we can help upskill your talent.