Rising Demand of Cybersecurity Skills Following Recent Cyber Attacks

 

Nowadays people shop online; they have their medical and banking records stored digitally. Governmental information also has electronic copies and requires strong protection. At the same time, the market’s demand for professionals in this field is not fully answered. Educational institutions cannot prepare as many professionals per year as the industry demands. That’s why such skills are extremely valuable for almost any IT project, whether it is an eCommerce developers’ team or mobile application development team.

 

Mobile app development is also prone to security risks, like any other industry. Taking into consideration the amount of sensitive information people have on their phones, it is essential to provide all levels of protection for an app, especially if it an eCommerce or banking.

 

 

The wide public already knows about the unsafety of Zoom conferences, which was so bad that even the FBI had to publish their recommendation. However, it is not the only case and not the most serious one when it comes to cybersecurity during the world crisis. The vast majority of businesses and companies are now working online and remotely. And it raises the issue of the growing number of cyberattacks that might target remote employees. According to the recent survey, 22% of companies are investing in new and more advanced security measures. And it is a reasonable decision, taking into consideration that 26% of respondents claim that the number of attacks and their severity has increased during this crisis.

 

One of the most affected industries is finances and related services. Such a situation has several reasons; starting from the fact that the economy is in quite an unstable state now. The second main reason is that the majority of shopping and financial transactions happen online and all providers offering paid digital services need to take extra measures to ensure customers’ safety. The experts believe that the influence of the pandemic on cybersecurity will be essential for several years after, especially in retail.

 

It is evident, that cybersecurity is one of the top priorities now for all businesses and organizations. The current pandemic has already changed the way we shop, communicate, and work. That’s why it is vital to protect employees and customers from malicious attacks and personal data breaks. It is important not only for vital industries, like finances or healthcare but for all organizations.

 

 

Cybersecurity practices change quickly as the attacks take new forms and require more measures to protect the data. Cybercrime raises awareness among companies and organizations, especially when there are global breaches caused by malware such as WannaCry or Petya. Yet, there are many more incidents that take place every day. Here are just several examples of recent attacks that have caused a lot of damage to companies and individuals.

 

The British major facilities business has experienced a cyber attack in February 2020. Their website stopped working on the 17th and the issue was not fully resolved on the 20th. The malware locked the computers out and demanded money, leaving thousands of employees’ offline. The company has 500,000 employees all over the world and this breach has resulted in huge financial damage.

 

This attack on the cloud storage of a hotel running company is one of the biggest as for now in terms of leaked information. 10,6 millions of guests have their personal data leaked and posted on hackers’ forum. The leaked personal information includes people’s names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails. The list of guests included celebrities like Justin Bieber and businessmen as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

 

In summer 2019 the Defense Information Systems Agency has suffered a significant data breach. The agency has sent out letters to people, whose information was stolen. The data even include social security numbers. As for now, there is no evidence that any of these personal data was used for malicious purposes, yet the incident is very serious. It is a governmental agency that works predominantly with military personnel.

 

 

Today cybersecurity is a necessity as in the USA alone the annual amount of breaches in 2018 reached 1,244. The demand for digital security jobs has grown up to 37% in the years 2012-2022. It is especially paramount for governmental and banking companies as well as the mobile application development industry. These fields deal with lots of sensitive personal information and have access to individuals’ records and devices.

 

The financial aspect is motivation for a huge number of cyber crimes. Therefore, businesses and organizations dealing with financial records require the strongest security measures. Mobile application development services are also in need of such measures as via the apps they have a connection to personal devices. The majority of application also offers the option to pay for special features or premium accounts. Overall, almost any industry is in need of high-quality professionals.

Another major factor is that attacks evolve quickly and cybersecurity requires continuous development. Among other skills, cybersecurity professionals need to:

 

• Monitor, handle and respond to attacks;

• Provide audit and compliance;

• Detect and react to intrusion of malicious software;

• Have firewall/IDS/IPS skills;

• Provide SIEM management;

• Application security development etc.

 

According to Burning Glass, the number of security job posting has grown 94% in the last 6 years. It is predicted that this number will continue to grow in the future.

In Summary

 

Because of high demand and limited educational opportunities, cybersecurity professionals are harder to find than almost any other IT professionals. And the rising number of attacks and information breaches show that any organization or company requires such professionals. Whether it is an eCommerce platform, healthcare portal or mobile application development company, each of them needs to keep their data confidential.

 

 

 

 

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