Cybersecurity Skills Gap Contributed to 80 Percent of Breaches — Fortinet Report

Fortinet, a global leader in broad, integrated, and automated cybersecurity solutions, released its 2022 Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report.

The new global report reveals that the cybersecurity skills shortage continues to create multiple challenges and repercussions for organizations — including security breaches and financial loss.

The survey shows that 64% of organizations experienced breaches that resulted in lost revenue and/or cost them fines during the past year. A staggering 38% of organizations reported breaches that cost them more than a million dollars (USD).

One of the key contributors to this has been the increase in remote and hybrid work models which resulted in the expansion of the threat landscape as vulnerabilities multiplied. IT teams had to act quickly to deal with an increasingly harsh reality.

Millions of employees were logging in from their unsecured home offices, which led to significant spikes in malicious cyber activity. In 2021, the Fortinet Global Threat Landscape Report revealed a tenfold increase in ransomware attacks alone. According to the Fortinet-sponsored survey, it’s clear that many of the challenges organizations face in combating cybercrime are directly related to a lack of qualified cybersecurity professionals.

While the number of professionals needed to fill the gap has decreased from 3.12 million down to 2.72 million in the past year, this is still a significant void that leaves organizations vulnerable. Skill development with Certifications in Cyber Security has a positive impact on job seekers.

Central to the challenge of recruiting and retaining cybersecurity talent is the importance of certification. Certified professionals have universally sought after. Globally, 91% of organizations claim they are willing to pay for an employee to achieve a cybersecurity certification. In India and the People’s Republic of China, certifications are especially sought after with 100% of leaders looking for certified people when hiring. In North America, 85% of organizations are reporting a preference to hire certified people.

Retention Challenges

A significant challenge for organizations has been finding and retaining the right people to fill critical security roles ranging from cloud security specialists to SOC analysts. The report found that 60 percent of leaders admit their organization struggles with recruitment and 52 percent struggle to retain talent.

Leaders from France (81%), North America (77%), and Hong Kong (77%) show the highest level of concern and believe that skills shortages pose additional risks to their organization. Whereas only half of the leaders from Indonesia (50%), Italy (50%), and Israel (47%) indicate concern.

Fortinet Skills Gap Survey:

• The survey was conducted among more than 1200 IT and cybersecurity decision-makers from 29 different locations, including India, U.S., France, Japan, Mexico, and more.
• Survey respondents came from a range of industries, including technology (28%), manufacturing (12%), and financial services (10%).