Why is Cyber Security Such a Booming Industry?

The past two decades have introduced a highly anticipated maturity for the cyber security industry. With high profile breaches and questionable security practices flooding our news feeds, it’s hard for any individual to avoid the taboo subject of cyber security.

The cyber security industry’s growth has mirrored that of the the internet. As 5 billion new people come online, 5 billion new security problems follow. As technology develops, cyber security issues will continue to grow. And now, with the emergence of driverless cars and IoT devices, cyber threats will follow suit.

As these cyber threats continue to rise, it only seems palpable that the cyber security industry would echo this growth.

2017 saw global companies being victims of large scale cyber attacks, governmental cyber espionage and multiple high profile examples of poor data practice. Despite causing poor cyber security experts to bang their heads on their keyboards, these events have resulted in something positive: an increased awareness of the importance of cyber security. We are now witnessing everyone, from small businesses to larger international corporations begin to open their wallets and increase their security budgets.

Evidently increased budgets leads to an increased demand for cyber security professionals. However there is one set back: the skills gap. According to new research, 68% of organisations reported high demand for cyber-skills in the workforce. As companies desperately attempt to fill security job vacancies, they begin to offer competitive salaries and work benefits in an effort to attract qualified candidates. As a result, these salaries seem to be continually rising.

The new General Data Protection legislation is just around the corner, and is another factor influencing the high demand for these qualified individuals. Companies are desperately seeking new CISO’s and cyber security professionals to help regulate and control their data handling processes in an attempt avoid the concerning threats of severe fines.

The cyber security sector has been growing by an estimated 11% every year. A recent report forecast that global spending on cyber security is expected to exceed $1 trillion between 2017 and 2021. The number of businesses falling victim to attacks doubled in the UK in the past two years. This accumulating evidence implies that the growing demand for cyber security is unlikely to cease anytime in the near future. We just have to hope we witness a substantial increase in the number of qualified cyber security workers, and corporations are able to keep up with the growing security demands.