Lost in the woods – the search for cybersecurity talent

In the wake of the Crowdstrike cybersecurity incident, media stories and so-called cybersecurity experts railed about the lack of cybersecurity talent and the talent wars.

But let’s put the lack of cybersecurity talent gap in perspective. It’s not a lack of talent. It’s a lack of properly educated and trained talent that is the problem. Our system spits out a lot of cybersecurity and IT educated experts, but industry is not hiring most of them. Clearly there is a failure in the system.

There are lots of unemployed cybersecurity graduates and there are a lot of companies that are understaffed trying to find experienced talent. What is wrong with this picture.

At the Canadian Cybersecurity Network we see a huge disconnect between academia and employers. Lots of academic programs and funding are being pulled together with little to no business support or buy in. Students are being churned out with little to no chance of landing cybersecurity employment upon graduation. There is a huge need to bring government, educators, and employers together to develop a much more effective talent marketplace. The technology is there to develop it, now we need the will to create it. At the Canadian Cybersecurity Network, our community is focused on working with academia, government, and businesses in making cybersecurity a trade, therefore ensuring job seekers have the opportunity to learn and work in cybersecurity with hands on application.

We need governments to understand how valuable cybersecurity is to our national security and business productivity and invest in cybersecurity as a trade. Then and only then will we be able to create a balance in the system that will also allow Canada to compete more effectively at a global level.