?
editor’s question
ALAIN PENEL,
REGIONAL VICE
PRESIDENT –
MIDDLE EAST,
FORTINET
Cybersecurity
vendors are uniquely
positioned to help
by extending their
ability to train and
educate customers
and partners to a
global audience
at all levels of
experience.
n the cyber arms
I
race, the criminal
community has
often had a
distinct advantage
due to their ability
to take advantage
of the cyberskills gap, the expanding
digital attack surface and especially
The need for skilled
cybersecurity
professionals is
more crucial than
ever, with global
shortages in talent
affecting 82% of
organisations.
by leveraging the element of
surprise with tactics such as social
engineering to take advantage of
unsuspecting individuals.
The need for skilled cybersecurity
professionals is more crucial than ever,
with global shortages in talent affecting
82% of organisations. Further, 71% of
those organisations believe this talent
gap has caused direct and measurable
damage to their organisations.
Many organisations are choosing to
bridge their skills gap with high-tech
solutions that employ automation.
While this is an important and effective
strategy, it is still not enough. Business
leaders must go beyond adding essential
solutions to their toolkits by also looking
to their current resources, including their
teams, to fully address this issue.
Filling this gap requires support from
every sector – public and private –
by supporting things like education,
cross-training and mentoring, both for
cybersecurity professionals and everyday
users. Cybersecurity vendors have
a critical role to play too, that goes well
beyond simply providing training on their
own products and solutions.
Cybersecurity vendors have a successful
track record of providing training for
the users of their security solutions.
However, if they truly want to become
trusted advisers for their customers, they
need to adopt a training and education
strategy with a much wider focus than
their own products and solutions.
The crisis of the current – and growing
– cybersecurity skills gap cannot be
overstated. Our society relies more
than ever on the availability of a global
digital infrastructure and the reality is
this is a looming existential threat to the
ongoing viability of our digital economy.
Cybersecurity vendors are uniquely
positioned to help by extending their
ability to train and educate customers
and partners to a global audience at all
levels of experience. u
30 Issue 28 | www.intelligentciso.com