What are the most effective ways to bridge the cybersecurity skills gap?

Instead of constantly searching for external talent in the market, consider launching organization-wide cybersecurity training initiatives. Within your existing IT workforce, you may discover a significant number of professionals who are genuinely interested in understanding various aspects of cybersecurity. This internal enthusiasm can serve as a valuable resource. If you identify individuals within your organization who express a keen interest in cybersecurity, you can further invest in their development by offering training and certification programs. Reskilling existing IT staff can be a cost-effective way to address the cybersecurity skills gap.

First thing is look for talent within your organization that knows your business and ultimately your network. Look for desire. Technology can be taught, where desire cannot be. However, the long game needs to take place by starting cybersecurity and privacy education in grade school through high school. Finland has been doing this for some time and they have the lowest number of compromised computers per 100,000 residents of any country in the world. Finland is also working on disinformation and misinformation education which has been quite successful. The EU is having Finland develop and share their program so it can be rolled out to the entire EU education system. Kudos to Finland. I want to see something like that in our country

In the career transitions I've made, I've introduced myself like this: "I bring these 3 things, I want to learn these 3 things." The intent is to demonstrate aptitude, value, and motivation - to show that the candidate brings an adjacent mastery and a growth mindset. I welcome any candidate who approaches an opportunity this way, but they must bring both near-term value and a desire to grow in the role.

Look for motivated people, self learning curious and people that keep themselves aware. Common sense should also be a key element for good cyber security people. The scope for cyber security is wide, from global governance and compliance, down to the implementation of technical controls, make sure you build a multi talent and multi skill team. Share your views, goals and make sure teams can focus on what matters. Sometimes priorities are not that obvious. Help your teams to skill up, offer them consultant brainstorming sessions etc. It will always help having these exchanges.

Studies indicate that past work experience does not necessarily equate with future job performance. The best way to gauge someone who has potential for hire is to evaluate them through practical tests and skill validation programs that indicate the score, and gaps of knowledge and prove they have got the skills needed to perform the respective job. Participating in defensive competitions, contributing to community-driven defense initiatives, and sharing insights on handling real-world security challenges could all be part of this new resume.

An example of one conflict often encountered training your workforce would be the amount of incentive associated with a much more highly credentialed professional. For instance, promotions/pay increases from within sometimes are limited to a percentage. If someone obtains a CISSP and is not even afforded a spot bonus, much less a 5% increase in salary I cannot see why anyone would stay if offered $30k elsewhere, hypothetically. Although i have seen that exact scenario twice. Upskilling is great, but if you want certs that are trendy like CISSP and more it’s going to cost. The same principle goes along with the “move out to move up” mentality. Just pay good employees and ensure they’re happy. Plenty of upper echelon areas to save instead.

Upskilling existing staff is indeed one of the most effective ways to bridge the cybersecurity skills gap. 1. Participate in cybersecurity training programs and obtain relevant certifications. This can enhance their skills and knowledge in specific areas of cybersecurity. 2. Create individualized professional development plans for your staff by identifying their strengths and areas for improvement. 3. Encourage your staff to pursue industry-recognized certifications, such as (CISSP), (CEH), or Security+ and so on. 4. Foster a culture of continuous learning and professional growth within your organization. upskilling existing staff should be complemented by other strategies such as attracting new talent.

Don't drive down a one-way street when it comes to investing. Just as your Cybersecurity pros invest and buy into your organizations philosophy, you should also be investing in them and providing them with opportunities to develop and sharpen their skills. If they are passionate and looking to better themselves, they will do it regardless if they are a part of your organization or one that is willing to invest in them.

Training opportunities can motivate internal talent, driving a virtuous cycle. Lack of training can result in talented folks making due with stale skillsets. Obsolete skills do not help employees grow nor properly protect the organization.

Sometimes what companies don't realize is that they have existing staff within the company who are eager to navigate into different areas such as cyber. It is important to not only look internally to save time, but will also show internal employees that the company is willing to invest in growth. It also shows confidence towards the internal talent by spending company resources to invest in talent's future.

Collaboration with educational and training institutions can ensure a steady stream of trained professionals in the cybersecurity field. These partnerships can offer tailored courses and certifications that are directly relevant to industry needs, ensuring that graduates are job-ready. This approach also helps in updating the curriculum based on the latest trends and threats.

It is crucial to partner with schools, universities, organisations and other education providers to increase the cybersecurity awareness and interest in this important area, starting from the elementary and middle-schools avoiding loose new talents and future experts due to a different school path already started for example in high school.

With a lack of women in security, partnering with education providers, including high schools is critical to showcase that women can develop a career in technology. Encouraging more girls to enter various technology careers is also a way to reduce the gap.

Run hackathon or bridge the gap program in school and colleges to identify potential enthusiast in cyber security. Once identified, providing them with right platform, training and guidance will hugely improve the skill gap.

Some of the international associations have excellent partnership programs to help organizations uplift their internal cybersecurity capabilities. These programs are developed for people with different skill sets - from beginners to experienced. Adopting such programs will not only help an organization to sharpen skills of internal team members, but also act as retention strategy, especially at a time when the industry is facing a crunch with skilled Cybersecurity resources.

Engaging consultants and specialized agencies is a smart strategy for startups. Startups often operate on tight budgets and need a diverse skill set to meet various challenges. Hiring full-time employees can be expensive and may not align with fluctuating workloads. Consultants offer specialized skills on a flexible, project-based basis, reducing attrition risk. They provide access to a broad skill pool, assure high-quality work, and enable startups to focus on core competencies. This approach optimizes operations and cost-effectively addresses startup needs.

With the advancements in AI , augmenting skilled resources with intelligent automation and copilots can take away the laborious tasks which consume their time yet also not take away the crucial human in the loop element which has been a forever fear in accepting traditional automation. Intelligent augmentation also allows upskilling resources by making available to them the learnings of more skilled resources and experts via the copilot.

Process automation is a fantastic way to get the most out of you existing security personnel. However, this doesn't mean you need to automate or optimize every process at once. You can do it slowly over an extended period of time and modify your automations as your processes mature. Whether it's done through scripting or using an existing tool, process optimization is everybody's responsibility.

Automation of routine cybersecurity tasks can free up skilled professionals to focus on more complex challenges. Outsourcing certain functions to specialized firms can also be effective, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises that may not have the resources to maintain a full in-house cybersecurity team. This approach, however, requires careful management to ensure security standards are upheld.

Allow your employees to outsource their talents to other burdened organizations. Various factors have to be in place for this to occur, but factors such as internal automation and good process governance, the capability to work faster and smarter, and company culture - these can pave the way for internal staff to spend time regularly in helping other orgs. This addresses both the immediate need for cybersecurity personnel and the higher-level goals of information sharing and industry collaboration.

Nothing is as powerful as a community, especially in Cybersecurity where every day there is something new, new vulnerability, zero-day, constant threat exposures, people together help to share intelligence, and learnings, gain insights on incident response strategies, and be situational aware. Being part of diversified communities also helps cyber professionals in their career growth and helps others in mentorships.

Info sharing on best practices, lessons learnt, but also real threats and risk allows to quickly improve and reduce resource needs. Also mutualisation of certain tasks (e.g. joint security assessments in common provider/services, interpreting of new cybersecurity regulations) could contribute addressing the challenges on the cybersecurity shortage.

Building a community also means that your organization must encourage, support, push their teams toward interactions. This include sharing about threat intelligence, attending conferences, participating in panels etc. It's both good for them, for the organizations, and for the community. Everybody wins.

Building community where people can interact and share knowledge. Like building a meetup group locally is a great example where one can showcase what they are doing to attract talent. There are many forum worldwide like defcon, nullcon etc. Running a hiring drive in these forum definitely helps in building community and this also shows that you are serious in protecting your organisation.

As a community leader and nurturer, I know the value of sharing best practice. I love learning from others, and CyberSec is no different. Building a cybersecurity community is like planting seeds of knowledge and nurturing growth. It's a space where expertise flourishes, innovation sparks, and connections thrive. However, remember that cultivating a respectful, inclusive haven is key and good moderation from an objective unbiased person matters greatly, or the community will quickly sour.

An international team with proper gender balance, well inspired by a good team leader is one of the key success factors for a winning cybersecurity team to be effective and efficient reducing turnover and improving engagement and collaboration.

It's important to look further than gender when it comes to diversity. Older individuals bring a wealth of knowledge and learned experiences, those with disabilities may bring a different perspective and set of skills. Those from different linguistic backgrounds and neurodiverse individuals also may think differently or see things from a different angle. These can all be superpowers when it comes to cyber security.

As mentioned in the education section, bringing more women in security will help reduce the gap. Helping young girls at school age understand that technology and science aren't only for males and changing the perception of these careers will help bringing more women in security and technology in general. Encouraging women willing to change career to come into security is also a way to bring more women into the field and has the additional advantage of bringing transferable skills as well as diverse perspectives from their previous career into the field.

When we talk about championing diversity & inclusion within the cybersecurity workforce, this goes beyond mere representation. It involves creating an environment where individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varied perspectives & experiences, not only exist but thrive & make contribution to the industry. It also requires a proactive dismantling of barriers, biases, & addressing the unique challenges faced by underrepresented groups in pursuit or progression within cybersecurity careers. Therefore, reevaluating recruitment practices, ensuring equitable opportunities for career advancement, implementing mentorship programs and ensuring retention.

Having a team that constantly challenges the status quo is next to impossible if there is not a diversity of thinking. It is this diversity of thinking and a leader that encourages healthy debate that allows the team to grow and expand their understanding and knowledge. It also helps identify blind spots as the different approaches to a situation help expand the possibilities that are considered.

Watch for burn out in your teams, mental health. It might strike unexpectedly. Make sure, the same way professionals adjust the strategy to your business need, that the business is also taking care of them. Highlight achievements, do not downplay their contribution. Be fair. Cyber security professionals have a very strong analytical mind, and deception will not work on them. Build trust, otherwise everybody lose in the long run.

I would say that keeping great talent in the Cybersecurity field takes a high level of commitment. This field is competitive, but there is not enough experts to fulfill the need. If you need a cyber leader, you can't expect to pay for a novice and keep them secured. It takes a lot of work and practice to become a cyber professional, "you get what you pay for" may apply. The second huge piece I would say is maintaining commitment, loyalty has two sides, not just one. It's on the employee and the employer to maintain loyalty and trust. Take care of your people, or someone else will.

The main reason i see a gap in the cybersecurity teams is the unavailability of an experienced mentor. Many achieved mentors are too headstrong to give a helping hand to the upcoming youngsters and just expect them to reach the master level by their own. The key aspects of cracking down an attack or a concept and what to focus and not should be mentored to the team, especially to the juniors and proper guidance with a to the point infrastructure setup will enable the team to level up any challenge quickly. Sites like portswigger, hackthebox, tryhackme, letsdefend should be combined with hands on experience in virtualbox, vmware and teams should collaborate on open-source tools which is freely available.

One standout method is the use of gamification and Capture The Flag (CTF) challenges. Gamified learning makes cybersecurity education engaging and interactive, turning complex topics into exciting adventures. CTF challenges take this a step further by offering hands-on experience in identifying vulnerabilities and defending against simulated attacks. They cater to all skill levels, foster collaboration, and develop practical problem-solving skills. Moreover, embracing CTF challenges fosters a proactive, innovative mindset among cybersecurity professionals. For organizations aiming to bridge the skills gap, integrating gamified learning and CTF challenges into training programs can attract, retain, and empower a resilient cybersecurity team.

To bridge the cybersecurity skills gap, a comprehensive approach is essential. This involves promoting formal education through degree programs and industry certifications, fostering internship and apprenticeship initiatives, and providing on-the-job training for existing staff. Support for cybersecurity bootcamps, and utilization of online learning platforms contribute to skill development. Flexibility in job requirements coupled with awareness campaigns, ensures dynamic and inclusive cybersecurity workforce.