Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 45 | Page 19

AS MOST CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS WORK WITHIN A TEAM FRAMEWORK , COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS ARE PARAMOUNT TO EFFICIENT OPERATION OF THE TEAM . www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO
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CYBER TALENT : IT IS MORE ABOUT TALENT THAN CYBER !

Joe Robertson , Director , Information Security and EMEA CISO at Fortinet , explains the misunderstanding of what cybersecurity requires when it comes to skills and highlights that the most critical factor for increasing cybersecurity recruitment involves the image cybersecurity conveys .

The annual security workforce study

conducted by ISC2 has found that while approximately 2.8 million professionals currently work in the cybersecurity field around the world , an additional 4 million trained workers are needed to fully bridge the skills gap and properly defend organisations against threat actors . In other words , there are simply not enough skilled professionals to keep up with the level of sophisticated threats and attacks that we are seeing . And this huge gap is only going to widen .
So , what can we do to address this imbalance ? One option is more sophisticated and automated technologies , helped by the development of AI , for example . However , cybersecurity is more than just technology ; in fact , it ’ s the human element that makes the difference . There is clearly a need for both training and certifications for newcomers to the field and for current cybersecurity professionals to enhance their proficiency . Also crucial is to increase awareness of cybersecurity itself to a wider audience , helping non-technical staff become the human firewall every company needs to face current and future attacks .
I believe the most critical factor for increasing cybersecurity recruitment involves the image cybersecurity conveys . There is a misunderstanding of what cybersecurity requires when it comes to skills . Of course , there is technical knowledge that must be

AS MOST CYBERSECURITY PROFESSIONALS WORK WITHIN A TEAM FRAMEWORK , COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS ARE PARAMOUNT TO EFFICIENT OPERATION OF THE TEAM . www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO

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