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Africa severely underrepresented in global cybersecurity workforce
The 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Report reveals a critical shortfall of professionals , creating substantial challenges for organisations worldwide . Despite an annual investment of nearly $ 200 billion annually in cybersecurity products and services , businesses are struggling to keep pace with escalating cyber threats , with only 72 % of cybersecurity roles being filled .
The global cybersecurity workforce currently stands at 7.1 million professionals , with significant regional disparities . Asia-Pacific , led by India and China , has the largest workforce in absolute terms , followed by the Americas and then Europe . The US leads in cybersecurity maturity , housing 70 % of the world ’ s cybersecurity vendors , while China and India are rapidly emerging as cybersecurity hubs .
Africa is severely underrepresented , with fewer than 300,000 cybersecurity professionals . These differences across geographies reflect common global development indicators and highlight varying levels of cybersecurity maturity .
The report identifies a global shortfall of 2.8 million cybersecurity professionals . Alarmingly , less than four qualified professionals exist to fill every five cybersecurity jobs .
Asia-Pacific is facing the most acute deficit , accounting for 60 % of the global shortage . This shortage is driven by years of underinvesting coupled with rising importance of cybersecurity . The shortage is regional as well as industry-specific , with sectors like Financial Services , Technology , and Materials and Industrials collectively accounting for 64 % of the workforce shortage . About 64 % of respondents to our survey identified the primary challenge in filling cybersecurity positions being a lack of qualified candidates .
Source : The 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Report by The Global Cybersecurity Forum and Boston Consulting Group
Emerging technologies , especially Generative AI are transforming the cybersecurity landscape at an unprecedented pace . While these technologies offer significant benefits , they also expand the attack surface and create new vulnerabilities . According to our research , 70 % of organisations have already integrated AI into their cybersecurity frameworks , leveraging it for anomaly detection , predictive analytics , and network traffic monitoring .
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