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It seems that every time you read the news there’s another story about a business being hacked or suffering a data breach.
While there are an abundance of security appliances and solutions available, they cannot alleviate the shortage of skilled network security professionals facing the enterprise.
The big story in early 2016 will be the growing concern among corporate leaders about the lack of cyber security professionals. In this post, we’ll look at the trends regarding the skills gap, talk about including cyber security training in elementary schools, and the emerging trend of aligning with a Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP).CSO, an online publication covering the realm of enterprise cyber security, predicts that the demand for cyber security professionals will rise to 6 million jobs by 2019. However, there will be a shortfall of 1.5 million employees to fill those positions.
Why will this shortfall exist? 451 Research offers a few answers. In a study published in July 2015, 34.5% of cyber security managers at companies reported they could not implement desired security projects due to lack of staff expertise. Over a quarter of cyber security professionals surveyed by 451 Research cited inadequate staffing as a barrier to launching effective cyber security measures.
Today’s IT professionals simply do not have the requisite skills to fill the current crop of cyber security job openings. Robert Stroud, international president of the information security industry group, ISACA, attributes the skill shortage to a shift in enterprise security strategies.
In an interview with NetworkWorld, he explained that companies have moved away from the perimeter defense model towards an approach that combines intrusion prevention with risk assessment, threat mitigation, and incident response. An IT specialist wouldn’t have received this type of training, and will find themselves unqualified for a job that demands these capabilities.
The National Cybersecurity Institute at Excelsior College advocates providing cyber security education and training in elementary school. This early education in cyber security will better prepare students to fill the jobs of tomorrow.
There are also calls to integrate cyber security more tightly into post-secondary education. Matt Loeb, CEO of ISACA, believes such an approach would be an effective way to mold future cyber security professionals before they graduate from college or university.
Both of these recommendations are long-term solutions. IT professionals in today’s job market must re-train in order to remain competitive and be qualified to fill the jobs of today.
An emerging trend is aligning internal security with MSSPs, this is for small to medium sized companies that want some backup when taking on the cyber threat landscape. You still need your on-site Security Engineers, but an MSSP gives you access to the latest and most sophisticated security tools as well as a team of supporting cyber security professionals dedicated to monitoring and responding to threats 24/7.
Today’s cyber security professionals may not have the knowledge to select the proper tools to protect their companies from cyber threats. In fact, it’s always surprising to find just how many networking professionals are still relying on SPAN ports as their means of network connectivity.
If you’re a cyber security professional in today’s market, you might not be aware of TAPs and their crucial role in protecting networks from intrusion by hackers by providing 100% network visibility. One benefit of post and secondary cyber security education is to emphasize how important networks TAPs are for in-line security appliances and out-of-band monitoring tools. As enterprise networks become increasingly complex, how you connect your appliances is just as important as having them.
You don’t have to wait for future network security professionals to enter the workforce to begin implementing network TAPs. Whether you’re taking cyber security in-house or going the MSSP route, Garland Technology offers a line of TAPs to give you total network visibility while maintaining 100% network uptime. Our experienced network designers collaborate with you to create a solution that meets your unique needs. Garland Technology works with the vendors of your choice to ensure that you see every bit, byte and packet® that passes through your network.
To learn more about how network TAPs can alleviate some of your visibility issues in the midst of this cyber security skills shortage, download our free white paper on Planned Visibility.