There’s a looming threat that the cybersecurity community has been battling to overcome for years – and now it appears that we’re reaching a tipping point. Surprisingly, it isn’t some new attack, malware campaign or vulnerability, but rather the acute shortage of cybersecurity professionals. And this isn’t just a regional trend! In fact, we can expect a global shortfall of 3.5 million cyber security jobs by 2021 according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
While it is encouraging to see that both government and private sector organizations are doing their best to foster the cyber talent of tomorrow through initiatives such as 1 Million Arab Coders, and internship programmes, the resource shortage is unlikely to go away entirely. This means that organizations must look at the most efficient and cost-effective ways they can address this pressing challenge.
Automation (alone) Isn’t the Answer
While automation, AI and ML will certainly address some of the shortcomings brought about by the skills gap, they are in no way a silver bullet. Organizations must instead look at these technologies as being able to supplement the capabilities of their security teams. What I mean here specifically is that if you have no processes in place, implementing SOAR (Security Orchestration, Automation and Response) will be challenging. The most successful deployments are with organizations that already have processes in place, but are delivering them manually and then want to augment them with an automated platform.
It also means that SOAR does not replace investments in other areas, but merely augments them; so, you won’t get away from continuing to engage cybersecurity professionals- whether in the capacity of in-house members or outsourced Managed Security Services teams.
Optimizing Cyber Defences
When skilled resources are scare, the last thing organizations can afford to do is to allocate already over-stretched cybersecurity professionals to tasks that don’t maximize the impact of their efforts. Simply put, you cannot solve challenges you aren’t aware of. With cybersecurity, I’ve noticed that too many Middle East organizations invest in the best security solutions yet fall victim to attack as they often aren’t aware of how to properly implement, configure and utilize these solutions.
One of the most helpful skills to foster in your cybersecurity workforce therefore is the ability to conduct comprehensive penetration testing and vulnerability analysis- something few cybersecurity professionals can accomplish without adopting a mechanical tools-based approach. However, if you only understand the tool, but not the underlying issue that the tool is reporting, you will at best deliver false positives and maybe even more importantly miss out on the real nasty vulnerabilities.
Done correctly however, penetration testing and vulnerability analysis can shine the spotlight on those critical issues within your IT environment that attackers are most likely to exploit. This then enables your security team to work with laser focus!
 
Engaging the Experts
For organizations already struggling with a cyber talent shortfall, an effective and cost-efficient fix is to leverage Managed Security Services. This involves outsourcing challenging and labour-intensive IT management tasks to qualified teams of experts who monitor their customers’ IT environments 24x7x365. At Help AG, we have seen the demand for these services soar, especially in the last two years, as organizations have become more comfortable with the idea of outsourcing key security tasks.
 
Personally, I believe that this is in the recognition by clients that a proper Cyber Security Response requires immense resources, process as well as a core focus on security to stay on top. When I see the engagement between our ethical hackers, analysts and implementation consultants, it is clear to me that having all skills under the same roof is imperative.
 
So, if your organization is facing a cyber security skills shortage and is keen to evaluate the most effective way to strengthen your defences, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Help AG. Whether it’s enabling you to optimize your existing investments, uncover the most critical vulnerabilities, implement robust security policies, or deliver 24×7 monitoring and security of your security environment – we’re here to help!