Huge skills gaps in the cybersecurity sector mean that self-starters who upskill themselves now could quickly put themselves on rewarding and lucrative career paths.

TechCentral chatted in this podcast to Anna Collard, senior vice president of content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa, about the company’s recent Cyber Security Skills Pipeline survey and what to do about the opportunity.

Collard, a seasoned cybersecurity specialist and advisor, said the responses to the survey revealed some startling challenges across all industries, the greatest being the lack of qualified candidates with the right aptitude and level of experience.

Said Collard: “On the one hand, we have massive youth unemployment; on the other, we see a cybersecurity skills gap. That’s an opportunity!”

Respondents to the survey showed:

• 56.7% could not find qualified candidates;

• 71.7% could not find candidates with enough practical experience; and

• 50% said candidates did not demonstrate the necessary levels of attitude and aptitude.

Roles organisations most need to fill are:

• Cloud security professionals: 58.3%

• SOC analysts and threat hunting teams: 53.3%

• Risk, governance and compliance professionals: 55%

• Red teaming and offensive security professionals: 48.3%

• Network engineering: 36.7%

• Security culture and awareness professionals: 35%

The solution is to:

• Be a role model. Take on interns and offer young people an opportunity to learn and get experience in this field.

• Look for aptitude and attitude; the technical skills will follow.

• Embrace all opportunities to share and to learn through whatever channel, not necessarily the traditional tertiary institutions, but also micro-learning.

We all have a lot to gain from this conversation and KnowBe4 Africa has certainly exposed the gap. Now, to fill it!

Watch or listen to this fascinating podcast now.