 Recent research shows the demand for cybersecurity professionals remains strong in both the public and private sectors. U.S. employers posted an estimated 313,735 job openings for cybersecurity workers between September 2017 and August 2018. That’s in addition to the 715,000-plus cybersecurity workers and IT professionals with a heavy security component as part of their duties currently employed around the country.

 Among specific core jobs, the top five by employer demand are cybersecurity engineer, cybersecurity analyst, cybersecurity manager/administrator, cybersecurity consultant, and penetration and vulnerability tester.

Sources: CompTIA, Burning Glass Technologies, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and CyberSeek, cyberseek.org/heatmap.html

 

Report Finds Women Comprise 24% of Global Cybersecurity Workforce

Clearwater, FL-headquartered (ISC)², isc2.org, the world’s largest non-profit association of certified cybersecurity professionals, recently released its 2019 Women in Cybersecurity report, which reveals that women now represent 24% of the cybersecurity workforce. 

This estimate is a higher percentage than in past reports, in part, due to the adoption of a new sample methodology that creates a more accurate and holistic representation of the cybersecurity and IT/ICT professionals responsible for securing their organizations’ critical assets. While the stronger representation of women in the cybersecurity workforce is encouraging, the report indicates that challenges like wage inequality remain.

Signs of progress include the following:

• The newest generation of professional entrants into cybersecurity is decidedly more female than in the past. In fact, 45% of women surveyed are Millennials, compared to just 33% of men. While just 24% of the industry is female today, this will change the face of the cybersecurity profession in the years to come. 

• Women also bring higher levels of education to cybersecurity. More women (52%) in the survey hold a post-graduate degree than their male counterparts (44%).

• The report also found that although men still outnumber women in cybersecurity by about three to one overall, women in the field are advancing to leadership positions. According to survey respondents, higher percentages of women than men are attaining senior leadership and decision-making positions:

 Chief Technology Officer: 7% of women vs. 2% of men

 Vice President of IT: 9% of women vs. 5% of men

 IT Director: 18% of women vs. 14% of men

 C-level/Executive: 28% of women vs. 19% of men

The challenges that remain include the following:

 While there’s evidence of progress as more women enter into and succeed in the field of cybersecurity, the report also indicates that pay inequities persist.

 For example, 17% of women globally reported annual salaries between $50,000 and $90,000, as compared to 29% of men.

 And 15% of women earn between $100,000 and $499,999, while 20% of men earn at least that much.

For all of their differences, the report indicates that men and women share a lot of the same concerns about their roles, such as a lack of commitment from upper management, the reputation of their organization, risk of seeing their job outsourced, a lack of work/life balance, the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) reducing the need for cybersecurity workers and a lack of standardized cybersecurity terminology to effectively communicate within their organizations.

For the full 2019 Women in Cybersecurity report, please visit isc2.org/research/women-in-cybersecurity.

Source: (ISC)² 2019 Women in Cybersecurity report