Report: Australian cybersecurity industry ‘not fit for purpose’
According to a new report from StickmanCyber, the local industry is “too small, too masculine and supported by foreign nationals.”
Every chief information officer (CISO) and their support animal of choice knows there is an ongoing skills crisis in Australia’s cybersecurity industry, but the reality may be even worse than previously thought, according to new analysis from the issue.
StickmanCyber’s Cyber Security Services Company Australia’s cybersecurity and technical skills gap The report combines research based on the latest Australian census with labor force data collected between 1997 and 2024.
The report found that the industry is actually much smaller than initially thought, and the current rising rate of data breaches is a direct consequence of the lack of skilled workers in the area.
The total number of people in roles like “penetration tester, cybersecurity engineer, cybersecurity analyst, cyber governance risk and compliance specialist” is just 11,387, according to the latest census, which is just 3 percent. percent of the ICT workforce.
That’s one cybersecurity specialist for every 240 Australian organizations.
“The Australian cybersecurity industry is growing, but there is a worrying shortage of technical cybersecurity skills, with too few Australians in dedicated cybersecurity roles such as penetration testing. “Many recent high-profile breaches are a natural consequence of Australia’s cybersecurity and technical skills gap,” Ajay Unni, founder and CEO of StickmanCyber, said in a statement.
“Much of the burden of cybersecurity falls on IT teams and professionals with extensive IT knowledge, who lack specialized cybersecurity experience. They do not have the experience necessary to protect a company. There is also a disproportionate degree of trust in technology. “Australia needs more security staff, not products.”
The report also found that the makeup of those people in the industry is deeply problematic. 51 percent of the country’s specialists were born abroad, highlighting a dangerous dependence on skilled migration.
Similarly, only 16 percent of the cybersecurity workforce are women, and that’s even worse when it comes to penetration testing, where only 5 percent of the workforce are women.
“There are no quick solutions to this problem. Right now, immigrants with technical skills are filling many technical roles, but Australia needs to encourage young people and students to pursue a career in cyber, especially women,” Unni said.
“Businesses also need to improve working conditions and reduce burnout to ensure people stay in the field. In the short term, companies that cannot find the skills they need internally should look for reliable third-party security service providers who have the skills they are missing. Every company needs a dedicated team that can be responsible for developing and managing its security properly.”
