UK companies are facing a cyber security staff shortage and companies fear they are being exposed to hacker attacks.
According to a recent survey of recruitment agencies, 81 percent expect a rise in demand for digital security staff, but only 16 percent were meeing the demand.
A number of high profile cyber attacks in 2017 have fuelled demand for professionals. In March, the mobile phone company Three suffered a serious breach that compromised 200,000 customers’ data. In April, the payday loan company Wonga had 250,000 customer records stolen including bank account details, phone numbers, and email addresses. A third of NHS trusts werei nfected by ransomware this year.
Adam Thilthorpe, the director of external affairs at BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, warned that there is going to be a shortage of skilled IT professionals.
He called for an integrated strategy across government and business from education, apprenticeships and diversity initiatives.
“We should recruit more women, ethnic minorities and [retrain] older workers to unfilled posts.”
