A salary survey conducted by Hays has revealed that the demand for cybersecurity skills is pushing up pay rates for the profession by more than 10%. The results have been drawn from the pay increases won by cybersecurity workers.
The trend is also driven by the skills shortage in the sector, as well as the pressure on organisations to deal with rising cybercrime. Notably, non-cybersecurity IT security experts commented below.
Greg Day, VP &CSO, EMEA at Palo Alto Networks:
“The Hays survey findings on security professionals’ pay rises confirms how valuable cybersecurity talent is to British business and the digital economy. This is long overdue for many in the profession, who are under pressure to deal with increased threats, the rapid pace of technological change and the need to enable organisations to respond to a wave of regulatory change.
Nonetheless, any wage inflation may put pressure on businesses’ cybersecurity budgets. Filling the skills gap is a priority to maintain the fight against increasingly automated cyber adversaries, in the UK and further afield, and there’s a great deal of work going on to train more cybersecurity workers and leaders.
However, this isn’t going to be an instant fix, so organisations need to think about how their investment in cybersecurity combines a strong focus on prevention with systems that use automation and streamlined processes. This will ease the pressure on today’s cybersecurity leadership and teams.”
There is no doubt that the strain on cybersecurity professionals is increasing, and automation may help those self-same professionals to perform more efficiently, and with less pressure, in their job role in future.
Cesare Garlati, Chief Security Strategist at the prpl Foundation:
“As IoT becomes more prevalent and influential within everyday working life, the need to secure these devices before they reach our organisations has never been more evident.The flaws within IoT device are well documented so it is understandable that the industry has displayed its concerns. We need to come together as an industry and rethink our approach to securing and managing these devices before they are turned into weapons against us. To help manufacturers and developers, the prpl Foundation has provided guidance on how to create a more secure Internet of Things that advises on how to adopt a hardware-led approach that sees security embedded from the ground up. By making sure these points are addressed, it can save time and limit potential damage in the future.”
