Cybersecurity specialists, scarce talent and increasingly fought over by companies

As the economy digitizes, so does data breaches. Recently the information system of the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) was hacked by a group of activists called “Guacamaya”, this fact put a keyword at the collective level: cybersecurityone of the areas with the greatest shortage of talent in Mexico.

According to the organization (ISC)2, in our country there is a deficit close to 400,000 experts in cybersecurity, this is the number of specialized professionals needed to meet the growing demand.

“In 2021 we had 106,000 related vacancies with cybersecurity. In one year the demand for these profiles practically doubled. I think that many companies are barely considering it as a key role, but we are already seeing a talent war due to the growth that we have had, especially in the Fintech sector”, says Emmanuel Olvera, CEO of Hireline, a job portal specialized in digital talent. .

The KPMG study on Risks in Mexico 2022 identified that the threat that companies perceive with the greatest probability of materializing today are the cyber attacks.

The average salary of a cybersecurity specialist is 36,300 pesos per month, according to Hireline figures. But in the last year the salary offer for these profiles has had an average growth of 20% and it is likely that the increases will continue due to the shortage of talent.

In this sense, Emmanuel Olvera explains that the demand for specialized talent is not only found in technology companies, it is about professionals who are sought after in other sectors such as finance, retail and even in consulting.

“Los ethical hackers they protect the most important and private information, from bank accounts to sensitive military communications. The shortage of cybersecurity workers puts the privacy and digital infrastructure of countries at risk,” says Andrew Wilson, vice president and general manager of Bishop Fox for Latin America, an information security firm.

Emmanuel Olvera points out that cybersecurity specialists are a very specialized talent, even new subspecialties and more and more certifications are observed.

The specialist indicates that part of the tasks that these professionals have in the companies is to audit the technological security mechanisms, detect threats or also called “ethical hacking”, and even an analysis after an attack to identify how it was, how the system was accessed. “It requires constant updating because the attacks are becoming more sophisticated. They are one of the areas that needs updating the most.”

In 2020 alone, according to a study by Oxford Business Group, our country concentrated 17% of cyber attacks reported in Latin America. Computer security breaches were estimated at nearly $2 million for each company affected.

Cybersecurity, one more of the scarce specialties

Las IT skills and data analysis they are the hardest to find for almost three out of 10 companies in the world, according to a study by the ManpowerGroup firm Experis.

Based on the report, the most in-demand technology jobs by companies are:

• IT project managers
• Cryptocurrency, Information Security, and Cybersecurity Analysts
• Software and application developers
• Specialists in artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Specialists in databases and networks
• Big data specialists and analysts

The cyber security It is part of a list of new profiles that are being required in companies and for which specialized talent is scarce. In addition to this, 34% of recruiters report that they do not find candidates with the appropriate technical skills, according to the Experis report.

Talent needs with knowledge and technological skills They are not limited only to the IT area or sector, since the production and manufacturing areas, as well as sales, have experienced changes in the need for more technical personnel thanks to the investment in technology that has been made during the years of the pandemic.