As threats online keep on coming, the cybersecurity world is in a constant state of flux, forever evolving. Over the last few years, the need for businesses to protect their customers from data breaches has been reflected in new regulatory measures like Europe’s GDPR laws.
This, coupled with the ongoing stream of stories in the media about hackers stealing personal information like addresses, phone numbers and bank details, means that the issue of cybersecurity isn’t in any danger of disappearing.
Marlin Hawk, the global executive search firm, wanted to find out more about the people on the front line of defending businesses globally and analysed the demands and challenges of their role and the effect of the growing talent shortage on real cybersecurity teams operating worldwide.
John-Claude Hesketh, Global Managing Partner at Marlin Hawk, explains that: “As the need to protect customer data grows, business leaders have been attempting to work out how best to respond to this new reality, and, most importantly, whose responsibility it should be. The constant cyber threat has completely changed the way boards around the world approach risk, and it’s an issue that every business leadership team has had to respond to.”
Marlin Hawk’s report, Global Snapshot: The CISO in 2020, conducted in association with Vanson Bourne, is an analysis of responses from 500 cybersecurity executives working in businesses with over 500 employees across the US, Europe and APAC.
It tells a compelling story about the disparity between the supply and demand of these professionals. In fact, as companies around the world rush to protect their data, they are creating a huge, global cybersecurity talent shortage. The report finds that 66% of CISOs struggle to recruit and think it will get worse. In APAC, this figure spikes to 91%.
Huge hiring demand is also changing the typical demographics of this role, with the first “career CISOs” emerging. The report indicates that 73% of respondents are under 45 years old, women are aplenty and paid, on average, better than male counterparts. But stunted upward progression and high demand mean that 85% of senior cyber professionals are either actively looking for a new role or would consider one if approached. It benchmarks the average tenure in the CISO role globally at four years.
To read more about the evolution of the CISO, be sure to download the full report.
