Data security issues is a painful topic to discuss for firms across Europe. Data protection has become a number 1 priority for companies after a series of nasty cybercrimes in recent years.
Catch 22 in recruitment
The problem, however, is not merely the threat organizations are under, but their inability to come up with a viable contingency plan to better protect their databases. One implication of this inadequacy is the rife recruitment crisis in the industry. While there is an increased demand for skilled data security information officers, the companies are struggling to find the right candidates. Two-third of European firms have admitted that they do not have enough cyber security professionals on their team.
The recruitment crisis is a Catch 22 situation. Businesses prefer to hire employees with prior cyber security experience. At the same time, there is a limited number of professionals who meet the criteria and, what is worse, organizations are reluctant to invest in training, which results in a talent pool shrink.
The picture becomes even gloomier when we add that nearly half of the businesses that have taken part in the State of Cyber Security’s report, have expressed their doubts in their staff’s capacity to address more complex data security issues efficiently.
The brute facts show there were about 55 million cybercrime attacks in the second quarter for 2016, a 66% increase from the same period in 2015.
Skilful professionals needed! The rewards are worth it
There is a vital need of professionals with strong technical abilities to fill the gaps in the industry, and the positive news of the first months of 2017 is that there, indeed, has been a surge in tech hiring. Particular predilection has been shown to developers who seem to be the most sought-after type of IT specialists in the beginning of the year.
But the issues remain. Christos Dimitriadis, the ISACA (previously known as Information Systems Audit and Control Association) board chair recently broached the significant gap between the cyber threats organizations face, and their readiness to address them without inflicting serious damage to their safe operation.
The visible demand for data security experts have rocketed the salaries of chief information security officers in Europe. It has been revealed that a top cyber security officer could now be earning an annual salary of astonishing £850,000.
The impact of the EU GDPR
There is another reason for the commotion among organizations that work with large databases. Less than a year remains before the new EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) comes into effect. We wrote about what GDPR is and what effects it will have on businesses in one of our previous articles. We will now once again remind you of the severe blows companies will be dealt, should they fail to comply with the new regulation.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) analysed that the penalties for the lawbreakers could jump by 79 times, which could lead to ludicrously high fines. It is plain to see that SMEs are most vulnerable for a single fine could be enough to force an enterprise out of business.
The sun is not shining over those organizations that need to put their data security in order, in time with the new GDPR’s introduction. But the inefficient recruitment process and the villainous cyber-attacks we merely register week after week, only seem to make matters worse. Hopefully businesses will step out of the confusion and take the necessary steps to restructure their development strategies, so as to tackle information security issues more effectively.
