Global shortage of skilled cybersecurity pros

A new global survey of more than 3,400 ISACA members shows that 46 percent of respondents expect their organization to face a cyberattack in 2015 and 83 percent believe cyberattacks are one of the top three threats facing organizations today.

An alarming 86 percent say there is a global shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals and only 38 percent feel prepared to fend off a sophisticated attack.

“ISACA supports increased discussion and activity to address escalating high-profile cyberattacks on organizations worldwide,” said Robert E Stroud, international president of ISACA. “As Washington calls for action, we hope they take a clear and straight-forward approach, working in close coordination with industry. Cybersecurity is everyone’s business, and creating a workforce trained to prevent and respond to today’s sophisticated attacks is a critical priority.”

Survey results show that 76 percent agree or strongly agree with President Obama’s proposed federal law requiring companies to notify consumers of a data breach within 30 days.

When asked about obstacles to timely notification, respondents ranked company concern about corporate reputation first (55 percent), followed by inadequate system design (15 percent), increased cost (13 percent) and insufficient staffing (10 percent).

Data breaches at a series of well-known retailers in 2014 made the issue of data security highly visible to consumers and highlighted the struggles that companies face in keeping data safe. Finding and retaining skilled cybersecurity employees is one of those challenges. In fact, 92 percent of ISACA’s survey respondents whose organizations will be hiring cybersecurity professionals in 2015 say it will be difficult to find skilled candidates.