In large part thanks to the pandemic, the pace of digitisation has accelerated rapidly in the UK in recent years, increasing the demand for people to fill cybersecurity roles.
A 2021 study from LSE and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) established that 75% of firms in its survey had adopted productivity-enhancing technologies since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. These included technologies for remote working, often in tandem with other technologies, including online sales, cloud, data analytics and cybersecurity.
Cybesecurity company Delinia which provides privileged access management (PAM) also reported in 2020 that 51% of UK business leaders said a quick shift to a cloud computing model saved their company from collapse. Additionally, 60% said they were planning to substantially increase their use of cloud-based IT throughout and following the pandemic.
Now, thanks to all that mass cloud adoption, professionals in cybesecurity roles are in high demand to protect confidential data, financial records, intellectual property, and critical infrastructure among other vital elements.
Cyber skills gap
However, according to Jeremy Broome, senior vice president of global talent at Visa, we’re looking at a skills gap in the profession.
“The current shortage in cybersecurity professionals is a complex issue driven by several key factors,” he says. “While we’re seeing a decrease in degreed cybersecurity talent, the industry is also seeing an increase in cyber attacks […] as a general trend, talent across the board are choosing to enter the workforce without a traditional four-year degree.”
That means that companies themselves need to find ways to plug the gap to fill cybersecurity roles. “It’s critical for organisations to invest in training and development, and work towards increasing diversity within the industry, including shifting our views on what the standard cybersecurity professional’s credentials look like,” Broome says.
Putting its money where its mouth is, Visa has created the Visa Payments Learning Program. “We offer training and certification programs to equip workers with the necessary skills to build foundational knowledge of payments cybersecurity,” he says.
Visa does this in a number of ways, via on-the-job training apprenticeships, by upskilling clients and internal talent, and through partnerships with educational institutions to create a sustainable and diverse talent pipeline.
So why does this matter? Not only is it incumbent on companies to ensure the safety of their data, Broome points to matters fiscal. “Visa’s real-time monitoring with AI blocked over $4.2bn in fraudulent payments volume in 2022, and has deployed AI-enabled capabilities and always-on experts to protect their ecosystem, proactively detecting and preventing billions of dollars of attempted fraud.”
Having properly trained staff in cybersecurity roles pays off in other ways too. “Speaking strictly from the payments industry, having a shortage of payments cybersecurity talent to help mitigate and stop these attacks can have several significant consequences for companies,” he says.
“This can include increased vulnerability, slower response time, increased employee workload and burnout, difficulty in keeping up with technological trends, and potential financial loss. To mitigate these risks, it’s imperative to invest in broadening talent pathways and retaining strong talent.”
If you’re looking to land a new cybersecurity role, the UKTN Job Board has jobs available all across the country, like the three below.
Senior security software engineer, Roku, Manchester
Streaming service Roku is seeking a cloud security engineer to secure its infrastructure and applications. You will provide technical leadership in cybersecurity by developing security tools to prevent, monitor and remediate vulnerabilities with an emphasis on automation and scalability, and conducting security assessments and working with other engineering teams to develop secure products.
You will also support incident response and remediation, and consult with other teams to guide them in addressing vulnerabilities in source code or deployments. Five or more years’ experience in cybersecurity is required, as is experience with cloud technologies such as AWS or GCP, along with excellent programming skills in Python and/or Java.
Senior manager, head of security architecture and engineering for Europe, Vanguard, London
Investment company Vanguard is looking for a senior manager, head of security architecture and engineering to oversee a team providing expert-level technical support designing, implementing, and maintaining data centre networks and security infrastructure.
You’ll lead the security architecture and engineering team to implement new security technologies and major releases for the most critical enterprise-wide technology projects. To apply, you will need a minimum of ten years of related work experience, with financial services experience desirable. An undergraduate degree in a related field (or an equivalent combination of training and experience) is required, as well as experience leading cloud engineering projects in AWS.
Data privacy manager, American Express Global Business Travel, London
Amex GBT is seeking a data privacy security analyst manager to lead investigations and manage a team of global analysts across a number of different parameters, including investigating data privacy security incident tickets, investigating cybersecurity and account takeover incident tickets, and investigating HR/legal request incident tickets.
To be considered, you will need a sound understanding of online booking and GDS mechanisms, information technology workflows, and forensic processes.
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