Indian Organisations Face Escalating Cybersecurity Risks Due to Skills Shortage: Fortinet Annual Skills Gap Report  

Vishak Raman, Vice President of Sales, India, SAARC & Southeast Asia at Fortinet
“The latest Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report from Fortinet highlights the critical challenge faced by organisations due to the shortage of cybersecurity talent. The report shows that over 80% of respondents find it challenging to hire certified professionals, which puts organisations at risk. To strengthen their security postures and stay ahead of the growing cyber threat landscape, organisations need to prioritise cybersecurity training and upskilling. With increasing workloads, organisations must also consider products that introduce automation to ease the burden on their teams while continuing to focus on training and upskilling in cybersecurity.”

The Costly Reality of the Increasing Cybersecurity Skills Gap
3.14 million professionals are needed to fill the global cybersecurity workforce gap. At the same time, the 2023 Global Cybersecurity Skills Gap Report found that 24% of Indian organiSations experienced five or more breaches. One repercussion of this is that many short-staffed cybersecurity teams are burdened and strained as they try to keep up with thousands of daily threat alerts and attempt to manage disparate solutions to properly protect their organiSation’s devices and data.

Additionally, as a result of unfilled IT positions due to the cyber skills shortage, the report also found that 84% of organiSations in India indicate they face additional cyber risks. Other findings highlighting increased cyber risks that could be partially attributed to the talent shortage include:

-Security intrusions are increasing: One resulting cyber risk is increased breaches, with 92% of organiSations in India experiencing one or more cybersecurity intrusions in the past 12 months up from 80% last year.

-More organisations were impacted financially due to breaches: Nearly half 43% of organisations in India suffered breaches in the past 12 months that cost more than $1 million to remediate, which is up from 38% of organisations compared to last year’s report.

-Cyberattacks will continue to increase: At the same time, 69% of Indian organisations expect the number of cyberattacks to increase over the next 12 months, further compounding the need to fill crucial cyber positions to help strengthen organisations’ security postures.

-The skills gap is a top concern for boards of directors: The report demonstrated that more than 94% of Indian boards are asking how the organisation is protecting against cyberattacks. At the same time, 90% of boards are advocating for hiring more IT security staff, emphasizing the demand for security talent.

Upskilling Security Professionals and Developing More Talent with Training
The report also suggested that employers recognise how training and certifications can benefit their organisation in addressing the skills gap, while also serving as an advantage for anyone looking to advance in their current security profession, as well as for individuals considering transitioning into the field. Below are additional highlights from the report around training:

-Certifications are sought after by employers: Beyond experience, employers view certifications and training as reliable validation of an individual’s skill set with 98% of Indian business leaders preferring to hire individuals with technology-focused certifications, up from 81% the year before. Additionally, 84% of respondents would pay for an employee to get a cybersecurity certification.

-Certifications benefit both organisations and individuals. More than 80% of report respondents (86%) indicated their organisation would benefit from cybersecurity certifications and 100% of business leaders have experienced positive results from either their team or themselves being certified.

-Not enough professionals are certified: While certifications are highly regarded, more than 80% of respondents said it is difficult to find people with certifications.

Increasing Opportunities for Women and Veterans Can Help Solve the Skills Gap
While the report demonstrated that organisations are seeking ways to tap into new talent pools to fill cybersecurity roles, with 9 out of 10 Indian organisations having diversity goals as part of their hiring practices, roughly 43% of organisations indicate they have difficulty finding qualified candidates who are women.

-The report suggested that Indian companies hired more veterans 67% when compared to 47% globally.

-At the same time, the report shows there were more women in cybersecurity roles in India 94% when compared to 89% globally.

Fortinet’s Commitment to Closing the Skills Gap
To help alleviate the challenges resulting from the skills shortage, Fortinet is committed to helping organisations improve the management of cyber risks with ML-driven automation and services, as well as increased access to cyber training. As part of these efforts, Fortinet has pledged to train 1 million people in cybersecurity by 2026 to help increase access for security professionals and untapped talent pools looking to upskill and reskill.