Solving the Cyber Skills Gap
Half of UK businesses struggle to find even basic cyber security skilled staff
A third of UK business have a skills gap for more advanced cyber security needs
According to the latest UK Government report on Cyber Security Skills in the UK, half of all uk businesses are struggling to find people with the basic cyber security skills needed to protect their business and the number of vacancies for Cyber skilled roles has increased by 30% since the previous year.
What this means in practical terms is enough to make any CEO lose sleep - to quote the report:
Approximately 739,000 businesses (50%) have a basic skills gap. That is, the people in charge of cyber security in those businesses lack the confidence to carry out the kinds of basic tasks laid out in the government-endorsed Cyber Essentials scheme, and are not getting support from external cyber security providers. The most common of these skills gaps are in setting up configured firewalls, storing or transferring personal data, and detecting and removing malware
Approximately 487,000 businesses (33%) have more advanced skills gaps, most commonly in forensic analysis of breaches, security architecture, interpreting malicious code and penetration testing
41% have an internal skills gap when it comes to incident response and recovery, and do not have this aspect of cyber security resourced externally
50% of businesses and 47% of charities have just one person who is directly responsible for β¦ cyber security
Read on to understand how we can help you solve these challenges in your business or charity.
Closing the cyber skills gap in your organisations
With half of all UK organisations struggling to find people with even basic cyber security skills, there is a security crisis in many organisations. The people in place do not have the skills they need to protect the organisation, and those who get trained up are more likely to leave for higher paid jobs due to large shortage of cyber skills people across the country.
For many years firms have outsourced their desk top and IT support to specialist firms - people who can configure laptops, create logins for new staff and provide help and advice when the finance spreadsheet gets corrupted (again). They are good at what they do, offering a break-fix service based on a helpdesk - that is: when something breaks, they react and fix it. However, people who are experts in Windows laptop set-up and Email server configuration are not necessarily cyber security gurus and few offer expertise in the cyber security standards such as Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 which are being demanded by insurers and clients alike.
Enter a new breed of firm, like Cool Waters Cyber, who provide outsourced cyber security-as-a-service and work alongside your IT support firm.
The key difference between the IT desktop support firm and the managed Cyber Security firm is the cyber firmβs operating model needs to be pro-active not reactive. In cyber security if something breaks it is too late - because that means your data has been exposed or stolen - so you need a cyber security team that is proactively looking for issues and risks and fixing them before they turn into problems.
Working with a firm like Cool Waters Cyber to run your cyber security on a day to day basis is a cost effective way to close the cyber skills gap in your firm. You will see the following benefits:
Secure skilled and certified staff for less than the cost of employing them directly
No need to worry about training people only to see them leave
Benefit from a varied team which brings more experience and skill than you could afford to recruit in-house
Compliance with key standards to help you win new customers including Cyber Essentials, PCI and ISO 27001
The team brings their own tools and ready made procedures to rapidly improve your cyber security
Removing single points of failure
If you are one of the 50% of UK organisations that has a single person responsible for Cyber Security - (assuming there is anyone at all) - then holidays and sick days place your organisation at risk when your in house security team is not available. And what about over night and at weekends?
Partnering with a security-as-a-service firm like Cool Waters Cyber that offers 24 * 7 Security Operations ensures your business is protected while you are asleep and in the off-hours preferred by cyber criminals to launch their attacks and ransomware because they assume that the in-house cyber security team will not be on duty.
Having a team of cyber security experts to support your in house resource or take over the responsibility for security will release that person to add value to another part of your organisation.
Creating new cyber security experts
The only way to solve the national cyber security skills gap is to create more cyber security experts, and we are doing just that with our award winning cyber apprentices scheme which is bringing new cyber careers to some of the UKβs most deprived areas in Cornwall. (Find out more and apply for an apprenticeship)
How can we help?
If you are facing a cyber skills gap in your organisation or are looking for a trusted partner to secure your business or charity, arrange a free no obligation chat to discuss your options. Letβs Talk.