By Dr Abhinanda Sarkar – Faculty Director, Great Learning.
There is a growing concern over a lack of suitable professionals in the Indian cybersecurity industry. From a demand-supply gap of nearly 30% in 2021, organisations are still struggling to fill several job openings, with a 42% talent shortage anticipated by 2025. With entities increasingly holding organisations—and even countries—hostage, the need for qualified cybersecurity personnel has gained importance in recent years. Cybercrimes in India especially are on the rise: Indian organisations saw an 18% rise in weekly cyberattacks in the first quarter of 2023 versus 7% globally, as Trojan attacks on supply chains and malicious code generated by AI are notably hurting businesses and individuals.
As it stands, enterprises are fighting to land the right professionals from a small talent pool—this gives rise to opportunity, allowing individuals with expertise to excel and enjoy brilliant careers, whether in securing large-scale business systems or keeping digital components safe.
Organisations, especially in today’s digital era, are built on data. It’s the foundation of their operations. From the personal information of employees to intellectual property like product blueprints and specs, there are several data of varying importance that organisations seek to protect. And there could be severe monetary and legal consequences if any of it falls into the wrong hands.
As the government rolls out various initiatives to support a digital economy, more and more information is being stored online. This opens the door for more attacks across numerous sectors. Digital transformation has inevitably led to the growth of cybersecurity jobs. However the dynamic nature of the domain and the fact that the skills involved draw from unrelated sectors mean that not many professionals are capable enough and lack sought-after skills like security analysis, cloud security, and app security. A mere degree in the field is barely sufficient nowadays. Constant learning is a must—certifications, boot camps, and skilling up is the only way to meet industry standards and hirers’ expectations. Certification can vary from entry-level courses to more advanced options like Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) to access some of the most lucrative cybersecurity roles in the world. A ‘train and certify’ model stands out for its comprehensive hands-on curriculum, adding value on top of existing degrees and experience.
The Indian cybersecurity industry will grow as 5G develops and more enterprises use cloud services. Several roles are anticipated in finance, healthcare, IT, and many other areas: Individuals will be tasked with preventing multiple types of DDoS, backdoors, and phishing, among hundreds of other ever-evolving attacks. Roles like penetration testers and cybersecurity engineers will gain prominence everywhere as businesses become bigger and expand their digital architecture. Cloud migration will bring about the need for cloud security specialists. Small enterprises, in particular, without adequate measures in place could be easy targets, necessitating either revamping their security protocols or building them from the ground up. Freshers could make use of this market gap to their advantage by skilling up and acquainting themselves with the latest trends and tools.
The beauty of cybersecurity is that it is a very diverse domain—people from various backgrounds can transition to full-time positions via upskilling and relevant qualifications. For some, entry points can be on the defensive side of security operations. For others, the offensive side may beckon, i.e. becoming ‘ethical hackers.’
Cybersecurity professionals are valuable assets that organisations are wary of losing. Even amid the ongoing hiring freeze in technology domains across various parts of the world, competent cybersecurity professionals are being retained and even offered salary hikes. This speaks to the tremendous potential in the domain. Specialised skills and ingenuity are in high demand, and as the country further accomplishes its digital transformation, more cybersecurity roles will open and create richly rewarding opportunities. The importance of upskilling and learning cannot be stated enough as the fight for talent enters a new phase.