Nearly every industry is in need of cybersecurity and IT talent, and the tech talent shortage is becoming more pressing. Currently, 82 percent of global industries face a shortage of cybersecurity skills, according to a study by Intel Security called "Hacking the Skills Shortage."
The survey gathered responses from IT experts and decision makers in public and private sector organizations from eight countries: Australia, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Not only did respondents indicate a shortage of talent, but 71 percent said this lack in skills leads to direct and measurable damage, such as making their organizations larger targets for cyber attacks and tarnishing the organization's reputation.
Even within the general IT workforce, organizations are placing a premium on cybersecurity skills. More than half (53 percent) of respondents said the cybersecurity professional shortage is somewhat or far greater than the shortage in the general IT workforce. However, there is significant money to be made in the cybersecurity field: The median cybersecurity salary countries reported is at least 2.7 times the average wage.
The three most in-demand cybersecurity skills are intrusion detection, secure software development and attack mitigation, according to the survey.
However, U.S. respondents indicated approximately 16.5 percent of cybersecurity jobs in their industries will go unfilled by 2020.
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