More partnerships with academia and better traning and mentoring are needed to help reduce the skills shortage.
Speaking on a panel at RSA Conference 2015 in relation to the (ISC)2 Global Workforce Study, Angela Messer, executive vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton said that better and increased partnerships with academia, not for profit organisations and Government, and working with our own employees is a solution.
“We are starting back in middle and high school and not just with STEM subjects, but with other talent and employees want to engage and get better engagement on cyber security,” she said. “We talk to academia and help formulate a curriculum and engage with teaching. Beyond sourcing and industry, we need to take a look at aptitude and take in challenges and hackathons to see if talent has ability to enter into the field.”
She also said that we need partnerships and training within our own organisations, and have efficiency to lessen the demands of the “supply chain” problem, which requires the involvement of the C-suite so the noise is taken away on what is important to protect.
Frank Dickson, research director at Frost & Sullivan used the analogy of an iceberg and the “effects you cannot see”, as the research showed more use of outsourcing and technology to reduce depdendancy. “The difference between 2013-2015 is we ask if we have enough people and everyone says that, but in 2015 a lot more say there is not enough staff and the problem is not getting better, it is getting worse,” he said.
Elise Yacobellis, director of global development at (ISC)² , said that there is a gap where students graduate and look for a job, and we look for people with skills and the problem is there is no entry level positions.
She said: “I often challenge organisations to help build an entry level pipeline and we do need experience, but you gcannot get experience if there is no entry level. If we don’t put a stake in the ground now we will never see growth”
Messer said that mentoring is a way forward as if there is a “cyber problem” then create a “cyber team” and understand the roles that they are training and mentor together.
