Bridge the Cybersecurity Skills Gap with Virtual Learning

We’ve all heard about the growing skills gap in the cybersecurity industry. There are an alarming number of businesses in the UK that lack staff with the technical, incident response and governance skills needed to manage their cybersecurity effectively.

And right now, this challenge is exacerbated by the current situation as companies scramble to set up or scale up remote working capabilities.

What is a skills gap?
A skills gap is different to a skills shortage. Rather than a shortfall in the number of skilled individuals working in or applying for cyber roles, a skills gap means that people are filling these roles – but don’t have all the skills necessary to keep their business secure.

The Cybersecurity Skills Gap
48% of UK businesses have a basic skills gap, meaning the people in charge of cybersecurity lack the confidence to carry out simple technical tasks – nor do they outsource them. Basic cybersecurity tasks include setting up configured firewalls, securely transferring personal data or detecting and removing malware.

Meanwhile, 30% of UK businesses have an advanced skills gap. Although they appreciate that more advanced cybersecurity skills – like interpreting malicious code, penetration testing or threat intelligence – are important for their business, they are not confident at performing them.

Worryingly, only around a third of organisations view basic skills as essential for business continuity. Of course, this is a huge concern, never more so than today. IT departments are buckling under the weight of demand ensuring remote access solutions are in place, and secure. Cybercriminals will be taking huge advantage of gaps in security with threats increasing day by day, business’ reputations, customers and partners have never been at a higher risk.

What Can You Do About It?
You can never know too much. Training is an invaluable resource that every business should take advantage of if it is available to them. Investing in training can help individuals to make the most of their security solutions and change their businesses for the better. You can start to close the skills gap within your organisation by using any downtime for your staff to get trained up either to support existing teams struggling to cope, and to help ensure that going forward, you have a fully qualified workforce ready to quickly implement your business continuity strategy.

Don’t just take our word for it, hear from one of our students and what they had to say about one of the many courses on offer from Exclusive Networks:

“Even after 25 years in the industry, in order to remain ahead of the game and set yourself apart from the competition, training is the way forward.”

All the courses in our training schedule are now being delivered virtually, so this could be the perfect opportunity for you to narrow that skills gap. Find out more about the courses on offer and get in touch with us about booking a session at Training@exclusive-networks.com.