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Lorne Stewart Group
Lorne Stewart Group

Digital skills gap is challenging security of UK companies

Nearly half of CISOs (48%) say that the skills shortage in their teams or organisations is the biggest people-related challenge their business is facing this year, closely followed by a lack of applicants for vacancies (36%).

Thatโ€™s according to new research from cyber security solutions provider BSS that exploresย How CISOs can succeed in a challenging landscape.

The research, which surveyed 150 information security decision makers, further revealed that the most challenging areas to recruit and retain staff for are: cloud engineering (34%), third-party assessment (31%), and risk assessment and assurance (31%).

The research also revealed that staff attrition is another key people related challenge (19%) and not just at a team level, In fact, one in ten CISOsย (13%) stated that they only stay in the role for less than a year.

To combat the shortage of internal experts and high churn rates, many are turning to external companies to bolster their security offering, with nearly all (97%) of those surveyed stating that they engage with partners and service providers for their security needs.

While use of external providers is a great way to deal with skills shortages in teams โ€“with new offerings like the virtual CISO making it even easier to manage projects end to end with external companiesโ€“ churn rates, budget for external help and even training to address the skills gap all rely on one thing: recognition of the importance of cyber security. Recognition that this new research reveals is sorely lacking.

In fact, less than a third of CISOs surveyed (28%) said that the value of their role is recognised by the board with less than a quarter (22%) stating that they are actively involved in wider business strategy and decision making.ย And half (49%) of those surveyed agreed that there is a lack of C-level buy-in to the role of information security.

BSS Director, Chris Wilkinsonย said: “In the midst of a relentless digital skills shortage sweeping across all industries, the urgent call for senior leaders is crystal clear: embrace the paramount significance of cyber security and, above all, recognise the immense value their information security teams bring.

โ€œMoreover, with the critical skills crisis continuing, seeking external expertise is no longer just a nice to have but an absolute necessity to enable companies to fortify their cyber defences to the utmost level.”

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