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Still Waiting to Hire a Security Analyst? Don’t!

As an organization with a growing business and IT footprint, the risks you are regularly exposed to constantly grow as well. Perhaps your board of directors is increasingly concerned about cybersecurity, given the attention paid to cyber breaches in the news, or the focus on global privacy and cybersecurity regulations. If you haven’t already hired one, you might be considering hiring a security analyst; you may even have written and posted a job description. The problem is that the increase in breaches is coupled with a tremendous gap in talent to address them. In this post, we discuss reasons for the gap, why it inhibits the ability of the SME to attract and retain cybersecurity talent, and the implications for your security posture – how this pursuit can actually hinder your efforts to improve security/reduce risk. The alternative? Outsourcing security to a trusted partner like IntelliGO.

Why is There a Talent Shortage?

Multiple factors contribute to the shortage. There is greater awareness of cybersecurity issues, stemming in part from an increased number of breaches, and more news coverage about them. Additionally, threats have advanced to a point where IT generalists require more specialized knowledge to prevent them or respond to them when they get through. This need has also influenced the criteria that constitutes a “qualified” cybersecurity professional. We see evidence of this in increasing offerings of cybersecurity programs, and enrollment in cybersecurity certifications as new professionals and generalists try to hone their cybersecurity skills. Meanwhile, established professionals incur sizable salaries that this greater demand and limited supply have afforded them, while highly qualified cybersecurity graduates tend to get “snatched up” by security companies or large enterprises right out of school.

Implications for Small to Medium-sized Enterprises

This skills shortage is getting quantifiably worse. There will be an estimated 3. (Read more...)

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from IntelliGO MDR Blog authored by IntelliGO Networks. Read the original post at: https://www.intelligonetworks.com/blog/dont-hire-a-security-analyst