Half of the companies do not have adequate cybersecurity to allow their entire workforce to work remotely.
This research comes from global recruiter, Robert Walters, and data provider Vacancysoft report ‘Cybersecurity: Building Business Resilience’, which also found that 58 per cent of tech hiring managers see info-security as their most required skillset right now.
This problem seems to worsen in Europe, with 70 per cent of European companies stating they do not have a sufficient cybersecurity team. Currently, there are 43,000 professionals working in cybersecurity in the UK. Despite, the current situation brought on by COVID-19, cybersecurity jobs are up by 6 per cent.
London was traditionally the centre for cybersecurity hiring, with 51 per cent of these types of vacancies being located in the capital in 2018. This decreased to 41 per cent in 2020. Yorkshire and the North East has seen a 138 per cent increase in the number of cybersecurity jobs posted.
The South East is another area of the UK where cybersecurity vacancies are increasing.
Darius Goodarzi, principal – information security and IT risk at Robert Walters, said:
The move to remote working, cloud-based file sharing, rise in video calls, and cashless transactions has highlighted to all businesses the importance of adequate IT security to allow for business continuity and protection from online breaches.
In fact, there are over 65,000 attempted cyber attacks on UK SME’s every day – with around 4,500 being successful at a cost of £2.48m per instance.
Given the cost – both financially and reputationally to businesses – it is surprising to hear that cybersecurity only accounts for 5.6% if total IT spend in a company.
James Chaplin, CEO of Vacancysoft, said:
The rapid pace of digital transformation bought on by Covid-19 led to a surge in recruitment at the beginning of this year. As a result, cybersecurity is becoming an ever-greater part of the technology function.
Ahsan Iqbal, director of technology at Robert Walters, said:
The north has been rising for some years now in regards to tech hubs – from a year-on-year increase in VC funding, less barriers to entry for start-ups, relocation of headquarters, and some of the best tech courses in the UK.
It is quite clear to see that Yorkshire and the North East is making quite an aggressive play to dominate the info-security field, and increasingly we are seeing more consultancy firms base themselves in the region as a result of low cost base and quality talent pool.
The nearshoring of roles to other parts of the UK means that the country is in a strong position to become the cybersecurity capital in Europe.
Over half (58 per cent) of companies believe that employees are more likely to try and circumvent company security practices when remote working. In response to this, 57 per cent of business decision-makers are implementing more measures to authenticate staff, like biometric data checks, such as fingerprint and facial recognition technology to ensure the right employee is accessing the right files, applications and accounts.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
