"The information security workforce shortfall is widening."
Consulting firm Frost & Sullivan recently published results from a study on the Global Information Security Workforce as discussed in a commentary on nextgov.com as well.
In the executive summary of the report, Frost & Sullivan state that: "62% of the survey respondents stated that their organizations have too few information security professionals. This compares to 56% in the 2013 survey. Also in a shift from the 2013 survey, the reasons for this hiring shortfall are less about money as more organizations are making the budgets available to hire more personnel. Rather, an insufficient pool of suitable candidates is causing this shortfall. These new observations and others generated from this extensive survey (almost 14,000 respondents globally) allowed Frost & Sullivan, for the first time, to estimate the shortfall in the global information security workforce; which we project will reach 1.5 million in five years. This shortfall is the difference between Frost & Sullivan’s projection of the workforce needed to fully address escalating security staffing needs and our workforce projection that accounts for workforce supply constraints (e.g., a tightening labor market among security professionals)."
In the executive summary of the report, Frost & Sullivan state that: "62% of the survey respondents stated that their organizations have too few information security professionals. This compares to 56% in the 2013 survey. Also in a shift from the 2013 survey, the reasons for this hiring shortfall are less about money as more organizations are making the budgets available to hire more personnel. Rather, an insufficient pool of suitable candidates is causing this shortfall. These new observations and others generated from this extensive survey (almost 14,000 respondents globally) allowed Frost & Sullivan, for the first time, to estimate the shortfall in the global information security workforce; which we project will reach 1.5 million in five years. This shortfall is the difference between Frost & Sullivan’s projection of the workforce needed to fully address escalating security staffing needs and our workforce projection that accounts for workforce supply constraints (e.g., a tightening labor market among security professionals)."