While the UK's cyber security skills gap is no secret, it seems there has been little progress made in solving it.
The 2023 government report on cyber security skills in the UK labour market found that half of all businesses have a basic cyber security skills gap, and 33% have an advanced skills gap - which are similar figures to 2022 and 2021.
The number of cyber security job postings has risen by 30% to 160,035, over a third of which were reported as 'hard-to-fill'.
Every skills gap or unfilled position poses significant risks and fosters vulnerabilities in businesses that could potentially be exploited by cyber criminals.
We urgently need to find a way to support security teams and start filling these gaps.
First, it is important to recognise that even the most advanced technology isn't a replacement for skilled professionals.
What it can be used for is to alleviate some of the burden from security teams by taking over the more mundane tasks.
By introducing the right security solutions - particularly those with integrated AI or machine learning capabilities - organisations can help their security teams to do more with less and plug some of the gaps created by the skills shortage.
Security staff will be able to apply their advance skillsets to more value-adding activities, such as hunting down potential threats and removing them, rather than doing tasks for which they are they over-qualified.
Using advanced technology to take control signals from across the entire IT infrastructure, assimilate them into useful information, and then use them to help security staff pin-point potential issues is far more efficient than using people alone.
The same thing applies to more general IT as well, but in the context of cyber security the starting point will be Security Incident and Event Management.
It's a core tool used to aggregate security data if used in isolation, it can be complex to deploy and manage.
XDR integrates security solutions primarily focussed on endpoints, servers, cloud applications, and email.
Once set up and running, it will automate much of the work of your security team, reduce the number of false alerts, and provide a unified view of the tools and threats.
For smaller businesses, or those without the internal resources, MDR is a cost-effective solution that provides access to both skilled expertise and best-of-breed technology.
Breach and Attack Simulation can provide further team support by simulating complex cyber attacks on demand and identifying gaps in the security environment.
Introducing advanced security solutions can not only support staff in conducting day-to-day tasks, but also provides more job satisfaction and faster skill improvement, alongside better insights into potential risks.
It will of course take time to set up these new systems, but once completed, security operations will be far more efficient and workloads will be significantly reduced.
This improves the effectiveness of the training being delivered and can further lessen the burden of work on security teams by removing the effort needed to rectify mistakes.
We no doubt need to encourage more people into cyber careers and encourage staff to learn new skills, but we can further support security professionals by introducing the right solutions to aid their work.
This Cyber News was published on www.itsecurityguru.org. Publication date: Tue, 09 Apr 2024 14:43:05 +0000