Cybersecurity skills in high demand

Cybersecurity is the most in-demand sector amongst information technology jobs, according to CIO magazine, and it’s not likely to change anytime soon. The demand for people with cybersecurity skills has grown 3.5 times faster than the demand for professionals in other IT-related jobs over the last couple of years.

According to the experts, it’s a situation where you need extreme analytical skills. It’s more than just writing code against a set of specifications. On the cyber side, coding is only one part of your function, you have to be very analytical and think about a person who wants to break through the system for whatever reason, malicious or other. You are working with a completely different set of rules and it’s very complex. This is one of the main reasons why you can’t just be a junior you need a high level of experience and why these skills are so in demand.

So with that said what are the most in-demand skills today and in the coming months?

Mobile Security
There’s an evolution going on in the executive suite, emerging technologies like mobile, cloud, and embedded devices are making the world more technology-driven, and at the same time, producing huge amounts of data.

In a survey conducted by Enterprise Security Group, they found that organizations’ top challenge is enforcing security policy for mobile devices. Mobile computing and communications have introduced new vulnerabilities and threats, and finding people with the know-how to address these will become increasingly important.

Application Security
This category represents one of the largest year-over-year growth increases in job postings in the USA, with a 31 percent hike since 2011. The main reason driving demand for this job category is the complexity of applications and explosive growth in the mobile device market.

Security Analyst
Organizations require information security analysts to help steer them through risk assessment, vulnerability assessment, and defense planning. This requires individuals with the skills to bridge across a variety of areas of expertise to understand what the adversary is doing inside your network. More and more, the industry is moving toward creating intelligence and “hunt” capabilities to find sophisticated adversaries within networks, pointing to significant demand for staff with the security analyst skillset.

Security Architects
Security Architect is responsible for analyzing information security systems and applications, and recommending and developing security measures to protect information against unauthorized data modification or loss.

A well-defined architecture helps dictate how the various single-function security technologies will work together -- and makes it easier to find the weak spots in enterprise defenses. As cyber-attacks grow in frequency and sophistication, many organizations find themselves falling behind in their ability to detect these attacks. Security architects are needed to develop innovative solutions to prevent hackers from stealing critical information or creating havoc on computer networks.

The importance of having the right security specialist within your team is clear. If you are looking for skilled individuals to help you against cyber-attacks or are in need of skilled staff in any other area within IT, we can assist. Communicate Recruitment is a specialist IT recruitment company that can help you find those scarce skills. Communicate Recruitment represents a range of tech-savvy, experienced candidates across all levels of the IT sector. These include business intelligence, developers, analysts, system engineers, project managers, and more. Contact us today!

Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Stuart Miles