Cyber Security Automation is Key to Fight the Skills Gap

To start building solutions to the skills gap problem, it is key to look at it in all its dimensions.

The debate around the cyber security skills gap continues to ride fairly high on the security industry’s agenda, but to start building solutions, it is key to look at the problem in all its dimensions.

The cyber security skills gap problem has its origins in three interlocking factors:

There is undoubtedly a growing demand for cyber skills, rooted in long-term trends towards the digitization of many industries and the avalanche of cyber-attacks we have seen over the past 10 years, both aspects greatly amplified by the COVID crisis.

Many organisations — large and small — which never had an infosec function before now have one or are building one. Many organisations which didn’t know what a pen test was are now doing those regularly. We need far more cyber security analysts, developers, testers, managers than ever before; and education and training programmes are struggling to keep up with the growth of the demand and the diversity of the roles.

But you cannot end the analysis at this point and conclude that the solution lies entirely in attracting and training more people. Because…