Dive Brief:
- Colleges and universities are responding to a shortage of workers who have the necessary skills to protect company computer networks by creating cybersecurity degree programs.
- Even with the new higher ed programs, companies aren’t finding enough qualified cybersecurity job candidates, so some of those companies are creating their own training programs, Bloomberg reports.
- In its 2014 annual security report, Cisco estimates the gap between the demand for qualified cybersecurity professionals and the supply of those workers is at 1 million people globally.
Dive Insight:
In a survey of 12,000 information security specialists, more than half — 56% — reported that their company was understaffed with workers with information security skills. Also, cybersecurity jobs openings took 24% longer to fill than IT jobs in general and 36% longer than advertised jobs in general. Symantec is one of the companies creating its own cybersecurity training programs, investing $2 million in a test project. Of more than 300,000 cybersecurity job openings, 20% could be filled by candidates without a college degree, according to Symantec.